Fuse
by jeskuhh2jake
Summary: After Melina beats up this girl at her school and puts her in a coma, her and Stanley are sent to Camp Green Lake. Will she get along with the boys and perhaps fall in love? She doubts it. Squid/OC
1. Anger Issues

I was sitting at my desk, ignoring the teacher who was going on and on about the Periodic Table. The truth was... I really didn't care. I glanced at my friend, Stanley, who was sitting next to me, listening intently to Mr. Durben. I looked past him to outside where the wind was blowing leaves on the trees lightly. I turned around when Lanise tapped my shoulder. Lanise was black and was one of my best friends in the whole universe. God gave her a talent for drawing... Really good. For example: when I turned around she held up her recent drawing-- Mr. Durben getting his throat sliced by Sweeney Todd. I couldn't help myself. I let out a loud laugh. The entire class looked at me and Mr. Durben glared at me from over his glasses.

"Do I need to separate you two again?" he asked.

I smirked and shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know why you would have to. I'm not doing anything." _Literally, _I thought to myself.

"Okay," he said and came up to my desk, "you need to get paper out and take some notes."

"I don't need to." I tapped the side of my head with my index finger. "It's all up here." I'll admit it. I could be a smart-ass sometimes. It was the way I was raised.

"Melina, get paper out," he ordered.

"I haven't got any."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm poor and live out in the streets." Lanise let out a chuckle at my lie.

"Go out into the hall and wait for me."

That wiped the smile off my face and I threw my hands in the air. "Why? I was just joking around!"

"You disrupted my class and are failing to participate."

"Well, it's not my fault this class is boring." There were a couple of 'Oooos' and 'Burns' from my classmates. I knew that snide remark was enough to get me sent to Principle Smith's office, but it was the truth!

Pointing to the door he said, "Get out."

I let out a loud groan and pushed my whole desk away from me, then stood up and walked down the aisle. I caught Stanley rolling his eyes at me and he earned a punch in the shoulder. Luckily Mr. Durben didn't see. He was busy scolding Lanise for not taking notes either.

When I got out in the hall, I leaned against the wall and slid down it. "Ow," I said loudly when I landed hard on my ass.

"What a doushbag," I heard a voice from my left say. It was Kyleen. We despised each other since seventh grade, when we were disecting frogs and she thought it would be funny to throw frog eggs at me, so I threw the _whole _frog at her. And then last year, freshmen year, we got in a food fight in the cafeteria after she 'accidently' tripped and spilled taco salad all over me. I thought it was pretty fun until some fool thought it would be funny to sling a _tray _at me. Yeah, it wasn't funny.

I stood up, not in the mood to tolerate her bitchiness. "The only doush I can see is standing right in front of me."

"Hey, I'm not the idiot that got sent out here _again._" She gave me a satisfied grin and switched her white purse to the other shoulder. "But, please, keep getting in trouble. I'll be happy when you're suspended and I don't have to look at your ugly face."

_Ugly face?! _Hell, she was the one with all that make-up on, making it look like she was wearing a Halloween mask. I made myself laugh and walked toward her slowly. "You would be happy if I was suspended, huh? Okay. That's fine by me." I flashed her a sweet smile before grabbing her straightened, bleech-blonde hair and yanked it back, slamming her head against the lockers.

She let out a yelp and dropped her purse, her hands flying to my hands, which were now tightening around her thoat. Her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets, her mouth opening and closing trying to breathe in air.

"Mel, stop!" a boy yelled. "You're going to kill her!"

I turned my head to see who was shouting at me. Corey was running towards me. I looked back at Kyleen, whose eyes were now rolling in the back of her head. I released my grip on her throat, instead grabbing her shirt collar with my left hand and punching her in the stomache with my right. I let all my anger out with each punch. I directed my blows to her powdered face. After three hits, her nose and mouth were bleeding. Tears were streaming down her face, making her mascara and eyeliner run.

Corey tried to grab me from behind, but I pushed him away easily, him being just a tiny thing. Grabbing Kyleen's head with both my hands, I started slamming it against the lockers over and over again.

"Hey!" I heard Corey shout. "Somebody get out here! Fight!"

Kyleen collapsed down to the floor, apparently unconscience, but I wasn't done. I jumped on top of her, continuing to throw punches. When I was about to hit her for the, what seemed like, hundreth time, I was fiercely yanked away from her limp figure. I tried struggling out of the grip that had me, but stopped abruptly when I met Mr. Bender's small, black eyes.


	2. Too Far

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Wish I owned Ziggy though. :-)**

Mr. Bender was the vice principal. He was way more harsher than Principle Smith... and he tried every chance he got to get me in trouble. Today was his lucky day. He escorted me to the office while he gave me his 'I-told-you-I'd-catch-you-oneday' speech, then the principle told me what I did was wrong and how he was going to call my mom.

My mom picked me up and took me home without yelling at me. She was very laid back and didn't care what I did with my life. It was my dad who I needed to watch out for.

When we got home I headed straight for my basement bedroom while my mom went to the livingroom. I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the red carpet, thinking about what happend today at school... and sour cream. Sour cream makes me happy. But it didn't work today. I didn't care what I did to Kyleen; she deserved it!

I looked at Killer's cage next to my bed on the nightstand table. I took off the top and searched around for him. I picked up the half-log and found Killer clutching to the top of it. I put my hand next to him and let the hairy tarantula crawl up it. I put the log back down and watched Killer crawl up my arm, his legs leaving prickly feelings behind. I've had him for two years already, and the second week I was daring enough to put him in my mouth. I didn't mind it. He just rested on my tongue. He hasn't tried to go down my throat... yet, but if he does, well I guess I'll have a problem. A big one.

I picked Killer up and set him on my carpet. He scuttled away to his web he made a long time ago under my Gothic table. I grabbed my black guitar that I received for my ninth birthday from my mom and began to play a song by Avril Lavigne.

_"Got up on the wrong side of life today, yeah_

_Crashed the car and I'm going to be really late_

_My phone doesn't work 'cause it's out of range _

_Looks like it's just one of those kind of days_

_You can't kick me down, I'm already on the ground_

_No, you can't 'cause you couldn't catch me anyhow_

_Blue skies but the sun isn't coming out, no_

_Today it's like I'm under a heavy cloud_

_And I feel so alive _

_I can't help myself_

_Don't you realize?_

_I just want to scream and lose control_

_Throw my hands up and let it go _

_Forget about everything and run away, yeah_

_I just want to fall and lose myself_

_Laughing so hard it hurts like hell_

_Forget about everything and runaway, yeah_

_So-so is how I'm doing if you're wondering _

_I'm in a fight with the world but I'm winning_

_Stay there, come closer, it's at your own risk _

_Yeah, you know how it is, life can be a--"_

The basement door swung open and I instantly stopped playing. I put my guitar down on my bed and stood up as my dad came down the stairs toward me. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to. His expression showed he was furious. I didn't back away because I knew if I ran it'd be worse.

He grabbed my red hair and jerked me down onto the floor. He kicked me in the stomache and started swearing. I tried to block him as best I could, but it didn't help at all. Grabbing my hair again, he made me stand up and look him in the face.

"Do you have any idea what you did?" he shouted, spit flying from his mouth. "That girl is in a coma! Her parents are threatening to sue! You have to go to court! You'll probably have to go to juvie!" He let my hair go and started to turn away, but he looked back at me. Unexpectedly, he headbutted me! What the hell?! I only thought that happened in movies! I fell back and put my hand to my forehead. Tears were burning in my eyes as I looked at my hand. It had blood on it. I watched my dad leave the basement.

"You went too far this time," he called over his shoulder, then slammed the door.

I sat there for a few more minutes with tears racing down my face, shaking slightly. I stood up slowly and went to my bathroom. I got a damp cloth and cleaned my forehead where the skin split.

After I put a band-aid on, I put Killer back in his cage then ran upstairs. My dad was nowhere to be seen (thank the good Lord) but my mom was sitting on the couch when I entered the livingroom, watching Sci-Fi and drinking a Budweiser.

"Hey, I'm going over to Stanley's place," I said, already halfway to the door.

"Sure, honey," she replied. She didn't even pay attention as I left the house but, of course, she's always like that.

The walk to Stanley's was quiet. I knew Stanley since sixth grade. He was such a nerd and loner. Lanise and I were probably his first _real _friends. He was a pretty cool kid though, once you got to know him.

When I knocked on their apartment door his mom was the one to open it. I always liked her. She treated me like her own daughter; I felt like it.

"Hi, Momma," I smiled.

She got a confused look on her face when she saw me. "What are you doing here, sweetheart? Shouldn't you be at school? Come in." She moved aside, beckoning me inside.

I sighed and told her the story. How I got in a fight with Kyleen, put her in a coma, and how I have to go to court for it. And when she asked about the band-aid on my head, I lied and said that I hit my head on the locker. No need for her to get too worried.

I hung there for the rest of the day, listening to Stanley's grandpa tell me stories about their family, which I thought was very neat. Let me tell you, Stanley's grandpa is smackin'-crackin'! He is the coolest old man ever! I nearly died laughing when Stanley came home and told us he had to go to court for 'stealing' Clyde Livingston's shoes, even though I had no idea who that even was.

**Author's Note: Okay peoples, three things.**

**1) I added two links to my profile page so you can see what Melina and Kyleen look like. Also, if you want to know what some of my other characters look like just let me know and I'll put up more links.**

**2) I'm still not sure so I'm asking you: Should this be a Zig/OC or a Squid/OC? I'll eventually do the other one, like if it's a Zig/OC I'll eventually do a Squid/OC. But I'll let ya'll decide that. :-)**

**3) Last thing. I'm going to let you people (you people?) yes you people decide on something else. I'm probably going to start another fan fic (no worries, ill still work in this one) but im not sure which one I want to do. And the choices are: Twilight, Prince Caspian, or Eragon. Let me know! Lots of Love! Rock on!**


	3. Blood, Sweat, and Tears

**Author's Note: Thnx for the reviews! This is a short chapter but I'm going to try and put the nxt chapter up in a few minutes. Enjoy! : )**

"Dear, sweet Jesus! Are we almost there?"

"Calm down, Melina," Stanley tried to soothe me. "We get there when we get there."

Stanley and I both went to court on the same day. Even though Stanley told the truth, it was definitely _not _believable. I mean, come on. Shoes falling from the sky? _Puh-leese._ We had two options: jail or a place called Camp Green Lake. Of course we chose Camp Green Lake. Camp sounded way better than jail. So now I was on a bus that wasn't air conditioned on my way to the middle of nowhere, at least it seemed that way since there was nothing in sight.

The day before I got on this freakin' ugly bus I said good-bye to all my friends and gave Killer to Jane, my other best friend, telling her to watch over him while I was gone. She agreed and told me to have fun. Lanise was laughing at me the whole day, but she said she would miss me.

I had my backpack with me in which I packed my girl necessities, paper and pencil, some clothes, my ipod, and in another case, my black guitar. I would have been playing it, but I was currently handcuffed, getting the skin on my wrists rubbed off. My tanktop was sticking to me and so was my hair, which was up in a loose, sloppy bun.

"I can't calm down!" I shouted. "I need off this Twinkie! God, help me! Please! He-" While I was having hysterics, I didn't notice the guard come over... until he hit me. "Ow!" I couldn't wipe my mouth since I was chained up against my will, but I tasted blood.

"Now, shut up!" the guard yelled at me and went back to the front.

"What a jerk," I muttered. I had tears in my eyes again. It always hurt when somebody punches me in the mouth since I had to get my bottom lip worked on when some asshole punched me and my braces cut it open. Thank goodness I don't have braces now.

"You were asking for it." Stanley was staring out the window into the desert, which was now getting infested with holes.

I glared at him. "If I wasn't handcuffed, I'd beat the crap out of you. In fact, when we get off this bus, I think I will."

It was silent for a moment, then Stanley looked at me. "Did you notice that all those kids out there are boys?"

I looked... and he was right! The bus parked in front of a brown building. I pressed my face against the dusty window. Boys! Not one single girl! Boys... everywhere!

_Hell no._


	4. Mr Sir and Dr P

**Author's Note: Hey guys. Sorry I haven't been able to update sooner. I keep getting backed up with my homeschooling, so you'll have to work with me. : )**

The heat was unbelievable when I stepped off the bus! I was sure it would set me on fire. That's how bad it was! I'm not exaggerating either. But what was worse was all the boys that were around stopped and stared at me. It was quite embarrassing, especially since I didn't know I was being sent to an all boys camp.

Leading us inside a brown building, the guard uncuffed us and told us to sit down in the two available chairs. A man with a rattlesnake tattoo sat behind a desk chewing sunflower seeds. He didn't look up when we sat down.

"Stanley Yelnats the Fourth," he read off a chart, "and Melina Thompson... Melina?" He finally looked up and his eyes widened. "You're a girl!"

I put down my stuff and clapped my hands. "Bravo. You're not blind."

"Well, this is the first," he muttered. "My name is Mr. Sir. You will-"

I cracked up laughing. "_Mr. Sir?_ What a name!"

Mr. Sir looked down and spit the sunflower seed shells into a jar. "Melina, just because you're a young lady, I will not hold back my power to punish you."

"And I don't expect you to," I said quickly. No way was I going to be treated like the weakest link here.

Mr. Sir stood up. "Coke?" He started opening the mini-fridge he had behind his desk.

"Yes, please, Mr. Sir."

I looked at Stanley and rolled my eyes. He made top grades in school, but did he honestly think that this hoot of a cowboy was going to hand over an ice-cold coke to a freindly newcomer? Seriously.

Turning around, Mr. Sir had a bottle of coke in his hand. He eyed Stanley but he gave it to the guard who was quietly standing behind us. I had to keep from pointing and laughing as Stanley's face fell.

The guard popped the lid and took a sip. "Thanks, man." He spun on his heel and started to walk out, but turned to me when I shouted after him.

"Bye!" I waved. "Have a safe trip back! Good luck on not getting heat stroke!"

He chuckled. "You're going to need the luck more than me."

_Oookay? _I thought as he left. I turned my attention back to Mr. Sir. He was looking at me weirdly. "What?"

He shook his head. "Give me your bag," he said to Stanley. He searched through it quickly and then threw it back. "Your turn."

I grinned. "I don't think so." No way in hell was I letting him go through my bag.

"Oh, I think so." He went to grab for it but I stood up and stepped away from him.

"You can search my guitar case," I said, "but not my bag."

"Obviously, young lady, you're hiding something."

"Mr. Sir," I said, "women go through a cycle, which has a name, but it's too long for me to remember what it is called. I have girl things I use every month for that cycle. Okay?"

His mouth was slightly open and he was quiet for a moment. Instead of arguing with me, Mr. Sir reached for my guitar case and opened it. I'll give you three guesses for what was in it.

"Hey!" I protested when he just dropped it.

"Follow me." He walked past me and went outside. Stanley followed right behind him. I was slower, grabbing my guitar case, but then I stepped outside.

I shielded my eyes with my hand as the sun tried to blind me. Of all the things I brought, why wasn't I smart enough to bring my sunglasses? When I was packing I even looked at them. How stupid is that?!

As we headed toward another small, brown building I was wishing that I had a middle finger for every boy who let out a wolf whistle. There was a boy in the building we were now in. He was way taller than me, me being 5'4". His eyes widened when they landed on me, reflexively looking down at my chest. Oh, brother. It's not like I had anything there to look at.

"You will dig a hole each day," Mr. Sir said to Stanley and me. "5'0" deep, 5'0" in diameter. Your shovel," the tall boy handed him a shovel, "will be your measuring stick. Get undressed." He tossed the shovel back to the boy and looked through some ugly, orange jumpsuits and shoes. Stanley started stripping down, but I stood there with a blank expression.

"Is there a problem?" inquired Mr. Sir when he turned back to us and not seeing me half naked. He was holding two jumpsuits, two canteens, and two pairs of shoes.

"I'm not dressing in front of three guys, especially one that's already drooling." I looked pointedly at the tall pervert.

Mr. Sir was hesitant. "Fine. Get dressed later." He handed Stanley, who was looking real pretty in just his underwear, and me the jumpsuits and other junk.

Footsteps sounded behind me and I turned around. A dorky, little man stood there, looking like he took too many happy pills.

"Stanley Yelnats and Mel... Melina?" He looked up from his clipboard and met my eyes. "You must be in the wrong place. You're a girl."

I bet I was going to be hearing that a lot. "Yes. Yes, I am."

He looked at Mr. Sir who said, "She's in the right place. Set 'em up."

The dorky man looked back at me. "No matter. I will treat you equally. Welcome to Camp Green Lake, both of you. I'm Dr. Pendanski, your counseler." That explained a lot of things.

Dr. P gave us some shower tokens then led us back outside, pointing out different things like a tour guide, but I wasn't listening. What had my attention was what he called the showers. There were some boys taking a shower already, and the stalls only came up to their waists! Lucky of me to think that there was actually a lake here and bring my bikini.

"Both of you will be in D-Tent," Dr. P told us. "The boys are probably taking showers. I'll come back later and assign you two a mentor. Go in and get settled." With a small wave and a goofy smile, he left us.

**Next chapter DTent makes their entrance.**


	5. DTent Fools

"Well, he's an oddball," I said after a minute. Stanley looked at me and then went into the tent; I followed.

_Ewww! This tent is disgusting! _The tent was littered with clothes and other junk. I'll admit, I'm a messy person, but not this messy. "I'm sleeping outside," I stated.

"It's not that bad."

"Are you serious?" I smacked the back of his head and pointed to the cot he was standing next to. "Look at that." He glanced at the gross stain and looked away in disgust. "Outside," I said again.

He dropped his stuff on a different cot and then sat down. I put down my guitar case and slid my bag off my shoulder.

"I'm going to change so don't look," I demanded. When he looked away I took my shirt off, leaving my white undershirt on. I unbuttoned my jean shorts and unzipped the zipper. They were at my knees when I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and fell flat on my face. There was a boy, dripping wet, in nothing but a towel around his waist, standing in the tent entrance!

He jumped slightly when he saw me laying on the floor with my jean shorts halfway down. "Hey!" he exclaimed, his eyebrows furrowing. "What're you doing here? You're a girl!"

I noticed he had a cute, southern drawl. "Uh, yeah," I said. I stood up and pulled my jean shorts up. Just then, a few more boys with towels around their waists came in. "Whoa." A couple of these boys were smokin' hott.

"You're a chica," a hispanic boy said.

"I know!" I shouted, making them jump. I was getting tired of everyone stating I was female.

"So, um, where do we sleep?" Stanley inquired, rubbing the back of his neck.

A black boy with glasses walked over to where Stanley was sitting. He picked up Stanley's stuff and dropped it on the floor. "Not on my cot."

"Oh, sorry," Stanley appologized and rose from the cot quickly. "I didn't know this was your cot."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," the black boy said. "You can take that cot back there." He pointed to the cot with the disgusting stain. "Barf Bag slept there."

I burst out laughing. "Sucks dick for you, Stanley." Some of the boys chuckled."Which one's my cot?"

"Right there," a large, black boy said, pointing to one that was squeezed tightly between two other cots.

I put my junk under the bed. I turned to the boys who were still staring at me with curiosity. "My name's Melina by the way, and that's Stanley."

The black boy with glasses, whos name I found out was X-Ray, introduced the rest of D-Tent. "But now that you know our names, tell us what you're doing in an all-boys camp."

"She's a spy for the government," I heard Zigzag, I think, mutter.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked him.

"Don't mind him," Squid said. "He has acute paranoia. So why are you here?"

I opened my mouth to answer but Dr. P came in. "Hello, boys. I see you met Stanley and Melina. Stanley, your mentor will be Theodore. Rex will be yours, Melina. After they get dressed they can show you around. But, boys, come outside while Melina puts on her jumpsuit." He left and the boys followed him.

While I changed, I heard Dr. P tell the boys how they need to respect me and treat me like a lady. I rolled my eyes. _This is going to be uber-fun, _I thought sarcastically.

**Review plz. And Im open for suggestions. : )**


	6. Pool Challenge

_I don't think I'll ever get used to this sun, _I thought when I went back outside yet again. All of D-Tent were standing out there without Mr. P. "So are you just gonna stare or are you going to show me around?"

"Follow me," X-Ray said.

"Let's go, fool," Armpit ordered Stanley. They went in the other direction and the boys that were left behind started to disperse.

"So how long have you been here?" I asked X-Ray, trying to start a conversation.

"Too long," he replied. He looked over at me. "Why are you here?"

"Well, first, I didn't know this was an all-boys camp." I looked around me and found some boys starting to stare again. "Second, I put a girl into a coma."

"Dang," X-Ray said. "Why?"

I shrugged. "She had it comin'."

"Gotcha." He pointed to a cabin a little ways away. "That's the warden's cabin. Don't mess with her."

"Why? Is she Satan reincarnated?" I chuckled, but then realization hit me. "Wait. Her? So I'm not the only girl here?"

"Nope. Just you and the warden."

X-Ray gave me the rest of the tour and then led me to, yet again, another brown building. "This is the 'wreck' room," he said.

"You guys spelled it wrong," I said, pointing at the sign.X-Ray just laughed and went inside. "Okay?" I followed him. _Ooooh. Now I get it. _Everything was wrecked in there. The T.V., pool table, couch. Everything. "Why do guys ruin your entertainment?" Instead of answering, X-Ray made his way over to Squid and Magnet who were playing a game of pool.

"Hey, Melina," Magnet said when he saw me.

"'Sup?" I watched as Squid sank a stripe ball in. "Well, I know who's winning."

After he sank two more balls in, he finally missed one. He looked up at me and grinned. "You want to play a game after us?" he asked me through his toothpick.

"Sure. I can beat you any day." 'Oooo's came from X-Ray and Magnet.

"Don't make me laugh," Squid said. "You have to earn a match against me. When you beat every boy in D-Tent, then we'll see if you're worth my time." More 'Oooo's.

"Deal. Magnet, I challenge you after him."

"Bring it on," he said.

I watched the rest of the game. Squid won by a long shot and gave me a cocky grin. He handed over his pool stick. Magnet broke but didn't get anything in. When it was my turn, I ignored the other boys in the 'wreck' room who had come over to watch, and to my surprise, got a solid in. I wasn't a master at pool, but I was pretty good. Good enough to beat Magnet.

"Magnet, hand the stick to X," I said, giving Squid my own cocky grin. He smirked with a raised eyebrow.

When I was about to break, a counseler came in and told us dinner was ready. The boys started to file out.

"Tomorrow, after we dig," X-Ray told me, "prepare to lose."

I rolled my eyes. "All talk."

When I got in the mess hall, I got in line to be served my food. Only, what they plopped on my plate didn't look liked food. "What the hell is this?" I said in disgust. "I'm not a dog."

The server gave me a dirty look. "Deal with it kid," he said.

As I went down the line, I got more and more repulsed. There was no way I was eating this crap.

I sat down between Stanley and Magnet, across from Squid. "So how was your day?" I asked Stanley, still staring at my food.

"Good," he said. He looked at me.

"Eat it," I told him.

"Are you not going to eat yours?"

"I want to live, thanks."

"Yeah, you're saying that now," X-Ray said. "Just wait 'til tomorrow."

I gave my food to the others and sat there answering their questions. When we went back to the tent, I asked them to look away while I got my p.j.s on. X-Ray told me that they ususally went to bed early because they have to get up before the sun is up. So I climbed into my cot and tried to get the best sleep that I could since tomorrow was apparently going to be spent in hell.

**A/N: I'm so super-uber happy 'cause Ghost Hunters Live is on tonight. I LOVE Steve and Tango!!! Review please and Happy Halloween! Have fun, keep safe. : )**


	7. The Shower Battle

_I don't think I can do this, _I thought. I was sweating and very sore. My arms ached like crazy. All the eyes that were on me didn't help either. "You guys," I said, "I'm hurting."

"You can't give up now, chica," Magnet said.

"Yeah," Armpit added. "You're almost done."

I let out a long sigh, aimed, and shot. The nine ball went in. Everyone, even boys from the other tents, clapped except my opponent, X-Ray, and Squid.

"Okay," I said to myself. "One more ball." Yeah, one more ball. The cursed eight ball. I never did like the ball. And what made it worse was it was the only ball X-Ray had to get in, too. "Top left-hand corner," I called. I took aim.

"Good luck."

"Don't pressure me!" I shouted at Stanley. I wasn't trying to be mean or anything, but I was really ready to win this game and let it be over. Digging a hole everyday was something I was not going to be looking forward to. I was the last one to get done. Stanley finished a few minutes before me, but by the time he managed to get out of his hole, I was done. He was nice enough to help me out of my own hole. When we got back I realized all the guys were taking a shower. Even though I had a bikini I still wasn't comfortable taking a shower in front of a bunch of juveniles. So here I am playing pool, about to drop dead, sweating and aching and pressured.

"Sorry," Stanley muttered.

"Temper, temper," X-Ray said while grinning.

"Shut up," I snapped. When that eight ball sunk in I jumped up and down, ignoring my pain, shouting like a lunatic. "In your face, X! In your face! Haha! Whoo! Yeah!"

X-Ray slammed down his pool stick and went to go sit on the couch. "That was just luck," he called over his shoulder.

"Don't be a sore loser," I said, smiling. "Yeah, baby!" I think I scared some of the other boys from the other tents away since it looked less crowded then it had when the game first started. Magnet and Armpit patted my back, Stanley congratulated me and then went to sit by Zero at a table, and Squid just shook his head with a faint smile on his lips. _Wait a sec. Is someone missing? _I looked around the 'wreck' room. I couldn't find Zigzag.

I went outside and looked around. I saw Zigzag sitting on the railing looking out into the desert. I walked over and climbed up beside him. I hadn't talked to him except for the time where I made it clear to him that I wasn't with the FBI and I was harmless. Well, at least for now I'm harmless.

He looked at me and grinned. "You win?"

"Barely," I said, but I couldn't help hiding my victory smile. "Why weren't you watching?" My feelings weren't hurt or anything, I was just curious why he was out here while the rest of the boys were inside having a good time.

"I was just thinking," he said.

"About?" I urged him on.

"You."

"....Me?" _Okay, he's starting to freak me out a little._

"Yep," he said, looking back over the desert. The sun was right above the mountains and stars started to pop out.

"May I ask why you were thinking about me?"

"Yeah, you can ask why. I don't mind."

I waited for a couple seconds. This was going nowhere. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why were you thinking about me?" I yelled.

"Because I'm thinking about how to beat you when it's my turn to play you," he simply said.

"Ooooh. So why don't you come and watch me to see what my moves are?" What moves? I had no idea. Even though I didn't let X-Ray know, I agreed with him. It's just luck.

"Mind games," Zigzag answered.

"Mmmhmm." I didn't know if he meant I played mind games or if he played mind games. Or if he meant something completely different, but I knew I didn't played mind games. At least, I think I didn't. "Well, I'm going to see what the others are doing. Peace." I got up and went back inside. Before I left this place, it would be my mission to figure Zigzag out.

Inside I walked over to the pool table and watched as Squid won another game. I was getting more anxious to beat him. "Who's next?" I said. I walked over to Squid and playfully yanked the poolstick out of his hand. I turned to ask Armpit if he wanted to play when I felt a hand slap my butt. I swung the poolstick around and hit Squid upside the head with it.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed at him.

"Ow!" he said rubbing his head. "Okay, okay. I was just playing."

I knew he was playing, but still. No one's allowed to touch my ass without my permission. It's my ass. "Now, Armpit," I said, smiling innocently at him, "would you like to play me at pool?"

"You know it," he said and grabbed a stick.

"Do you want to break?"

"I'd like to break you," I heard X-Ray mutter as he came over to watch. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Sure," Armpit said. After the balls were racked up, Armpit broke.

I threw my fist in the air. "I win! Next!"

Armpit stared incredulously at the pocket where the black ball sunk in. "I don't believe it," he said. All the guys laughed at him.

"Alright, boys," Dr. P said as he came in, "...and girl. Time for bed."

I ran up to Dr. P. "High five, Dr. P! I won in pool!" I held up my hand.

"How about a pat on the back?" He said and patted me on the back. "Good job, Melina."

I stifled a laugh. "Uh, thanks."

Everyone went back to their own tents. As the boys were getting ready for bed, I grabbed my bikini out of my bag. "Magnet," I said. He came over and held up the blanket. After I got changed, I grabbed my towel and went outside casting a, "I'll be right back," over my shoulder.

The showers were deserted which made me happy. I threw my towel over the low wall and prepared to take a nice, refreshing shower. What I didn't expect was the water to be freezing cold.

"What the heck?" I jumped out of the ice water and glared at it. "No one told me you would be freezing," I whined. _Am I addressing the shower? Okay, I am going crazy._

"You might want to get in there before your time runs out," a voice from behind me said.

"Don't tell me what to do!" I yelled at Squid, who leaned against the wall closest to me.

"Calm down," he said. "Just trying to give you advice."

"Well, I don't need advice," I said, looking at him. "And take that stupid toothpick out of your mouth."

"Why? Does it distract you like your distracting me?"

"I'm not distracting you," I said. I jumped in the water, stayed under the water for three seconds, then jumped back out.

"Your body is," he smirked while eyeing my body.

I took the toothpick out of his mouth and threw it behind him. "Fetch," I pointed at it.

"What the hell?" he said confused. "Do I look like a dog to you?"

"Maybe," I mumbled, getting ready to go under the water.

"That's it."

I looked behind me to see Squid walking around the wall. "What're you doing?" I asked nervously. "Squid?" Before I knew it, he wrapped his hands around me, pinning my arms to my sides and held me under the freezing cold water. "Squid! Stop!" I screamed, trying to break free of his grip. "This isn't fair! You're used to it! Stop! Fetch! Ahhhh!"

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime of stuggling and getting pierced by cold water, the shower turned off. I stood there panting heavily from screaming.

"What in tarnation is going on out here?"

Squid and I looked to our right to find Mr. Sir standing there. Squid dropped his grip and I gave him a hard push away from me.

"Nothing," I said. "Squid was just helping me face the freezing cold shower. Good night, Mr. Sir." I grabbed my towel and elbowed my way past Squid, drying off as I walked back to the tent.

"Night, Mr. Sir," I heard Squid say and follow after me.


	8. Your Guts I Hate 'Em

I wasn't mad at Squid. I was just annoyed at him. I mean, who would want to be pushed and held under freezing water? Not me. I looked over my shoulder to find Squid a few feet behind me staring off to his left. I looked ahead of me and rolled my eyes. I had to admit that I felt something for him. He was pretty good-looking. Especially with that stupid toothpick.

I entered the tent and stopped in my tracks. "Drop it," I demanded. I grimaced as Magnet dropped my guitar on the floor with a _thud. _"You could've put it on the bed!"

"_Perdon_," he mumbled Spanish and went to his cot.

I picked my guitar up and put it on the cot. "Stanley, hold the blanket up." I threw my towel next to my cot and pulled my pajamas out of my bag.

"Why don't you sing something?" I heard Armpit ask from beyond the blanket.

"I don't want to," I simply said, pulling off my wet bikini.

"One little song won't hurt," X-Ray said.

"No, thank you."

"Come on," Magnet said. "I bet you have a good singing voice."

"I said no!" I shouted. How many times do I have to tell these guy that I don't want to?

"She's scared."

I pulled on my Joe Boxer pajama pants and shirt and pushed the blanket aside. "Excuse me?" All the boys groaned and I couldn't figure out why.

"Refrain from saying that, please," Squid said. "And I said you're too scared to sing in front of us."

"I would be, too," Zigzag said. "I wouldn't want a bunch of people staring at me."

"I'm not scared," I said, ignoring Zigzag. "I'm not in the mood, that's all."

"Mmhm, sure."

I glared at Squid and all I achieved was getting a cocky smirk. "No." I walked over to my cot and got my brush out. I raked the brush through my hair fast, getting mad when it got stuck in the knots. Brushing my hair always made me want to cut it short, but after I was done I always forgot that I wanted it cut moments before.

"I never thought you'd be stage fright since you have such a loud mouth," Squid went on. "But I guess I was wrong."

"Do you ever shut up?" I inquired, trying to get a knot out.

"I would if you sing a song."

"I don't want to."

"Chicken."

I threw down my brush and grabbed my guitar. "This song is dedicated to you, Squid," I said as I sat down on the edge of my cot. The boys looked more attentive when I started playing. I had actually wrote this song to Kyleen but never got to sing it to her. I cleared my throat and then let the words flow out.

"_I wrote this song about you._

_I wrote this song about you._

_Just to let you know,_

_That I hate your guts _

_And I think you suck._

_I wrote this song about you._

_I wrote this song about you._

_Just to let you know,_

_That I hate your guts_

_And I think you suck._

_I hate the way you look._

_You make me sick._

_I hate the way you talk._

_I wanna punch you in the face._

_I can't stand you at all._

_You drive me insane._

_Why won't you go away?_

_I wrote this song about you._

_I wrote this song about you._

_Just to let you know,_

_That I hate your guts_

_And I think you suck."_

_Time to step it up a notch, _I thought. I started playing louder and the words turned into shouting.

"_This is your song!_

_Congratulations!_

_You're the inspiration!_

_I hate you so much _

_That I wrote this song!_

_Congratulations!_

_You're immortalized!_

_I hate you so much!_

_I hope you fuckin' die!"_

I didn't look up the whole time I was singing, but I did now and nearly laughed. They all looked dumbfounded and... surprised? "What?" I said while putting my guitar back in its case. "You didn't think I could sing?"

"Wow," Magnet finally said.

"Harsh," X-Ray said.

I sighed. I knew the guilt trip was going to come since the guys were acting like this, so I decided to appologize right then so I could get some sleep for tomorrow. "Look, Squid," I said, turning around, "that wasn't meant for.... Creepy." When I turned around Squid was staring at me grinning. "What?"

He shrugged. "I liked it," he said. "I thought it was hilarious."

"Thanks, I guess," I said, climbing under my covers. "Just so you know though, I wrote that a while back meant for this girl."

"What girl?" Zigzag asked.

"Kyleen," Stanley answered. "The girl she put into a coma."

"I can answer for myself!" The boys snickered and started laying down in their cots. "Good night, you guys," I said, turning over to get a good night's rest.

**A/N: I do not own the song. It's called 'Your Guts (I Hate 'Em) and it belongs to Reel Big Fish. You should check it out. It's good. :) Review please.**


	9. Betting

Tortillas and honey didn't go good with early morning hours. They were so disgusting, but somehow I found a way to push it down. I never talked to anyone when we got up to dig mostly because no one else wanted to talk either.

I groaned as I stabbed the ground with my shovel. My body was hurting already. It felt like I was digging my own grave. _By the time I finish, _I thought, _I probably will be using it as a grave._

For lunch we had turkey sandwiches with an apple. I got my food and went to my hole, dropping down inside it. There wasn't any shade in it because the sun was right above us. As I was eating my bruised apple, Zigzag dropped down into my hole and sat across from me. He didn't look at me. He just sat there staring at his food while he ate it.

"Yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo," I said after the silence started to get awkward. "May I help you with something?"

"Nope," he said.

"Do you want to talk about something?"

"Sure."

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

He shrugged. "You pick."

I thought for a moment. "Alright. How'd you end up here?"

"I caught a classroom on fire at my school," he answered.

"Why'd you do that?" I asked.

"I just.... Adrenaline rush, you know?"

"Yeah." Yes, I did know. I could still feel the adrenaline that ran through me when I was beating the crap out of Kyleen. "So you just felt like it or was there a reason behind the adrenaline rush?"

"I thought it would be fun." He gestured with a finger for me to come closer, so I leaned forward. "And it was."

I chuckled. For some reason, I thought there was more to the story than he was telling me. I knew I'd figure it out eventually.

Everyone finished their lunch and started digging again. I couldn't tell if Stanley's hole was deeper than mine or if mine was deeper. It was close.

A shadow fell over me and I squinted up at Squid. "What do you want?"

"I bet I can beat you."

I started digging again. "If you're talking about digging, then I bet you can, too."

He sat down on the edge of my hole. "Do you want to see who gets done faster?"

"I already know who would win," I said. "You."

"There's a slim chance that my arm could break and you'd beat me."

I stopped digging and wiped the sweat from my forehead. "Yeah, slim chance."

"What do you say?" He jumped down into my hole and leaned up against the side of it with his arms crossed.

I looked at him. "I say you're crazy. I don't see the point at all. You would beat me, without a doubt, and then you'd be rubbing it in my face all day."

"No, I wouldn't," he said. "I promise."

"There's no point."

He shook his head. "You're such a chicken."

I threw my shovel against the side of the hole where it bounced off and landed in the dirt between Squid and me. "I sang last night! I am not a chicken!"

"That's in the past," he said with a shrug. "Plus this is a challenge and you refusing to do it may mean that you're scared to compete with others." He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not scared!" I shouted.

"Does that mean you accept?"

"You're on! But it's not fair 'cause you're already ahead of me."

Squid picked up my shovel and started digging. "Go get my shovel and start helping me."

I got out of my hole and went to his. "Hey, what's going on, Mel?" Stanley asked as I passed.

"Mind you're own business," I mumbled angrily. I knew I shouldn't let Squid get to me this way, but I have to admit, I'm a proud person and no way was he going to call me scared.

It took us about ten minutes to get my hole as deep as his. "Okay," he said and climbed out. He reached his hand down and pulled me out after him. "What are you betting on?"

I looked at him with my hand shielding my eyes. "Say what?"

He sighed. "What do I have to do if you win?"

All of the boys came over except for Zero to see what we were talking about. "I don't know. You tell me first."

"If I win," Squid said, "you have to give each of the guys a kiss on the lips."

"Alright!" Magnet smiled with the rest of D-Tent.

"Boys," I muttered. "Fine. If I win...." I smiled wickedly.

"Yes?" Squid prodded me.

"_You _have to give each of the guys a kiss on the lips." The groan that came out of all the guys was hilarious. Even Zero looked up from his hole with a disgusted look.

"That's gross," Squid said. "No way am I doing that."

"Deals off then," I said. "Thanks for helping me with my hole." I started to turn away but he stopped me.

"Alright, alright." He held out his hand. "Deal?"

"Deal," I said. I spat in my hand before shaking his. He gave me a disgusted look. "What? Just sealin' the deal." I flashed him a smile. "Go." I ran back to my hole and slid in it. Picking up my shovel, I started digging out dirt like mad. I knew I was going to get tired, but better to have a head start in the beginning. I ignored my soreness as best as I could and poured all my strength out into digging.

Forty minutes had passed, but it seemed like forty hours. I had slowed down tremendously. My breathing was heavy and my hands and arms were shaking as well as my legs. I hadn't stopped to look to see how Squid was doing or to get a drink from my canteen. Yes, I wanted to win this bad. Very bad.

Somehow my shovel slipped out of my hands and fell to the dirt. I was panting and looked around but didn't see anything. My vision was spinning and yellow, white, and purple dots started popping up. I tried to control my breathing and took even breaths in and out. I was thinking about trying to climb out of my hole but knew I'd probably fall back in since my arms were shaking so bad. I leaned against the side of my hole and shut my eyes tight. When I opened them, nothing had changed. For some reason, it started getting harder to breathe and I was getting extremely hotter.

I opened my mouth to yell for the guys but nothing came out. I tried again, and this time I managed to say something, but my voice was hoarse and it hurt horribly. "You guys!"

I started panicking as my breath came in sharp rasps. I clutched my throat and felt tears start to fall down my cheeks. I heard voices, but they were really distant. My hole started to go upward and then... blackness.

**A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter. I don't know why. But I did. :) Review plz. Oh, and also, shoud Lanise do something bad to get sent to Camp Green Lake or no? Up to you guys. Peace.**


	10. Deaf

I knew I regained conscousness, but I didn't open my eyes. I could hear a _thud_ding inside my head. I sounded, and felt, like my heart was in the center of my brain. And it hurt pretty dang bad.

I couldn't hear anything except the pounding. Slowly I started to be aware of other parts of my body. My arms, shoulders, and lower back were killing me. My legs felt fine. My feet on the other hand were sore. My breathing was normal as far as I could tell, but everytime I took in air a stinging pierced my throat.

My forehead and face felt cold. The rest of my body was boiling. My eyes fluttered open and I could see a blurred tent ceiling. I could also see people in my peripheral vision. I blinked hard a couple times and my vision got clearer. I sat up and felt a few hands helping me. My hand flew to my head when everything started spinning. I stared at one spot on the bed and tried to see straight. It felt like I was rocking back and forth.

Once I could see that spot clearly, I carefully looked at the people who were with me. I saw two of every D-Tent boy looking at me and moving their lips, but no sound came out. Or more, sound came out, but I couldn't hear it. That _thud_ding was still going on inside my head. I saw Magnet press a washcloth to my face. That explained why my face was so cold.

My vision got better and I started seeing just one of each boy. I saw X-Ray say something to me, but I couldn't hear him. My eyebrows furrowed and I tried to read his lips. It was no good.

"I can't hear anything," I meant to say, but I couldn't hear it. I said it again, but shouted it, feeling the pain in my throat. I still couldn't hear myself. I saw someone leave my side and thought that I may have scared them off. I decided to try one more time. "I can't hear anything!" I screamed with as much force as I could. Now I knew the boys heard me because they all flinched and gave me an annoyed look.

All of a sudden, a piece of paper on a clipboard was pratically thrown at my face. _OKAY!, _it read. I looked over at Squid who had threw it at me. He was chewing on a toothpick and had an eyebrow raised, looking at me with what looked like, to me, an amused expression. But the amused expression got replaced with a worried expression when tears started to fall down my face.

Why couldn't I hear anybody? Why couldn't I hear myself? Was I going deaf? It frightened me. I wiped the tears away even though they kept coming and grabbed the paper and clipboard. I held out my hand and Squid handed me a pencil. I wrote, _Why can't I hear?_ While I wrote, I saw Armpit say something to Stanley and then Stanley left the tent.

Squid read what I wrote and replied, _I don't know, but Stanley's gone to fetch Mom._

_Great, _I thought, _I'm not in the mood to hear Dr. P be optimistic about me not being able to hear. Oh, wait. I won't be able to hear him. Great!_

I blinked a couple of times to get rid of the tears and then pulled my knees up to my chest and crossed my arms over them. The pounding in my head was still at the same volume and was starting to get irritating. And so was Magnet. He kept trying to wipe with my face with the stupid washcloth, so I snatched it out of his hand and threw it in his face. He then resided to rubbing my back. I rolled my eyes and sighed. At least, I think I did.

A few minutes later, Stanley came in with Dr. P following him. When he saw me sitting up, he gave me a goofy grin and started talking. He was looking at me, so I guessed his words were directed to me. Did Stanley not tell him that I was currently deaf? I watched as Dr. P kept moving his lips and doing hand gestures.

"I can't freakin' hear you!" I threw my arms up in exasperation. His smile faltered for a moment, but then he grinned and started talking again! What the hell?

Zigzag, seeing the look on my face, grabbed the paper and clipboard on the bed and handed it to Dr. P. Dr. P grabbed a pen out of his pocket and scribbled something on the paper. When he handed it to me I wanted to rip the paper up because the thing that stuck out on the paper was a big smiley face. _Oh, my sweet Jesus, _I thought.

_Melina, _he wrote, _I suggest you get some sleep and your hearing should come back. _(_Oh, wonderful, _I thought sarcastically. _It _should _come back.) When you wake up, we'll work together and get you through this. _

I looked at Dr. P and he was talking to the boys and gesturing for them to get out of the tent. I lay down and closed my eyes. I opened them when I felt something land on my stomache. I reached down and grabbed the clipboard.

_By the way, you lost._

I lifted my head to see the back of Squid exiting the tent. I threw the clipboard to the side and let my head fall back down against the pillow.

_Just great._

**A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers, especially Childhood-Disruption who was one of the first people to ever review this story and Love Like Winter-Affliction who has a great attitude and I love Storm Warning: Week One. That story is awesome. :) But all my other reviewers are smackin'-crackin', too! As Dr. P would say: I shall treat all of you equally. Haha. Now, review. :)**


	11. You Make Me Wanna Shout

Boys are dumb. Especially the boys that I'm currently living with. Right now I wouldn't mind taking a gun to their legs and watch them bleed out slowly. Whoa. That was a little harsh.... I'd rather dig a knife through their ears and let them understand how I'm feeling right now.

"We could hit her in the head with a shovel and put her out of her misery."

I rolled my eyes at X-Ray's comment. I looked over at him and gave my best glare that I could conjure up without my tiredness showing. "I can hear you, even if its's muffled."

X-Ray laughed and went back to digging. That's right. I'm out here digging with them. Currently, the Warden was top on my shit list. Dr. P said that she had given him orders to make me come out here since I was still capable of digging. He also told me to keep hydrated and not to dig like I was in a race. Thank you, Squid, for lying and letting me get all the lectures.

"I really appreciate it, buddy," I mumbled. At least, to me it was a mumble, but I guess I kind of shouted it from the looks I was getting.

I'd woke up this morning to a banging sound. Then I heard voices, but they were muffled. At first I thought I had water in my ears, but then I remembered what happened the day before. It was really irritating. Everytime I talked to someone, I ended up shouting it resulting in them shouting back telling _me_ to quit shouting. It wasn't my fault. If I whispered or talked in my regular voice I either couldn't hear myself or it would come out as a low whisper that was barely audible to me.

"Who are you talking to?" Zigzag wondered.

"She's going delusional."

"I am talking to Squid, Zigzag," I said before Squid could even finish his sentence. I dropped my shovel next to me so I could pull my hair up in a ponytail.

Squid stopped digging and looked at me with a faint smile playing at his lips. "Why do you appreciate me?"

I put my hands on my hips. "If you were listening you would've heard 'I really appreciate _it'. _Not you. _It._"

"Then what's 'it'? Magnet asked.

I threw my hands up and laughed. "I have no idea!" I picked up my shovel and continued to dig. I don't know why I laughed. Maybe I was going crazy.

It was very silent exept for Zero's shovel and my own hitting the dirt until X-Ray said, "We could throw her in a hole with a bunch of yellow spotted lizards."

These wonderful boys better hope I don't have a slim chance of finding a gun or knife lying around somewhere.

***

I was in the tent by myself while the boys were in the showers. I was bored so I decided to get out a piece of paper and pencil, steal an envelope from Stanley's stationary kit, and head over to the 'wreck' room, keeping my gaze from straying over to the showers.

There was only a couple of boys in the 'wreck' room, just chilliing or playing cards. I sat down at an empty table and chewed on the end of the pencil. I knew I was going to write to Lanise, but I didn't know what I should say. I could say that everything was fine and going great. I could also say that I was being harrassed by a bunch of boys since this was an all boys camp or I could say that I am now deaf.

Instead of telling her about this place and what's been going on here, I just wrote one thing on the paper: _Has Kyleen woken up yet?_ I put the world's shortest letter in the envelope and sealed it. For the return address I wrote: _Hell On Earth. _Then I wrote Lanise's first and last name. As I was about to write down her address, I realized something. _What is her address?_

"Well, damn." I crumpled up the letter and tossed it in the trash. I sat there pouting until a boy that I didn't recognize walked up to me. "May I help you?"

He was tall, had short dark hair, and dark eyes. "What's a sexy girl like you doing by herself?"

I noticed he had a lisp and a pretty smile. "I'm not alone," I said and looked at the chair on my right. "Gregg's right there."

He looked confused for a moment but then laughed uncertaintly. "Um, okay. Is this seat empty?" he asked, motioning to the seat in front of him.

"Why, yes. Yes, it is. And this one will be too if you sit down," I said while pointing to the chair I was sitting in.

"You don't have to shout."

"Sorry!" this time shouting on purpose. "I can't help it if I can't hear that good!"

"Hey," I heard someone from behind me say, sounding very familiar, "shut up. What's up, Lisp?"

"Nothing," Lisp replied. He gave Squid a look that I couldn't really figure out and then walked away.

I turned and looked up at Squid. "What was that about?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes. "Never mind."

He shrugged and grabbed my wrist. I reacted by jerking my arm back and hitting my elbow on the table. "Stupid," Squid called me while I rubbed my elbow. "I was just taking you back to the D-Tent."

"You could've told me," I said.

"Lower your voice!" Squid shouted.

I let out a long, loud whine that surprised even me. I sounded like a freakin' two-year-old! But I was really getting tired of people shouting at me for something I'm not even meaning to do. "What if I don't want to go back?"

"Too bad. Let's go."

"Why do I even have to go back?" I inquired, not bothering to move from my seat.

Squid smirked and said, "You lost, remember?"

I groaned and let him drag me out of my seat. "See you later, Gregg," I called over my shoulder.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. I know I'm a horrible, evil person for ending it here. I give you permission to cuss me out and call me evil things. I deserve it. But I promise I'll have the next chapter up soon. Review. :)**


	12. Kissing DTent

I stared at the boys and they all stared back. "I have to kiss...all...of them?"

Squid rested his arm on my shoulder. "Well, I'll give you another option," he said. "If you give me a nice, long, sexy kiss you don't have to kiss any of them."

"Screw that option," X-Ray said and a couple others agreed.

"I have to kiss Stanley, too?" I asked rather disgusted. He was like a brother to me and it would be quite awkward. Don't get me wrong, kissing all of them is going to be awkward, but with Stanley it'll be..._more_...awkward.

Stanley looked up and his eyes widened a bit. "I-I...um...I don't want to k-kiss...ahem...I don't want her to kiss me," he finally said.

"Fine, you don't have to kiss Stanley," Squid said with an eyeroll, "but hurry up and pick someone to kiss; I'm last."

I gave him a weird look and shrugged my shoulder to get his arm off it. "Magnet, I guess you're first."

"_Asi carino, asi!" _he smiled. _"Besame!"_

I stepped over to where he was sitting on the bed. "Why is it so silent?"

"Just kiss him!" Squid, Armpit, and X-Ray shouted simultaneously.

"Okay! Calm down!" I shook my head. "Sheesh. No need to get excited." I bent my head down and let my lips touch Magnet's. Not even a second had passed before I drew away from him.

"Aww, you call that a kiss?" he asked.

"Be lucky you got that," I told him and wiped my mouth. I went over to Armpit and did the same thing. I ended up punching X-Ray on the shoulder when he grabbed my ass trying to make me get closer to him. He then complained, along with Magnet, that the kiss I gave Zigzag was longer. I didn't think so... but who knows? Hehe.

"Guess it's my turn now, huh?" Squid said, standing up from his cot.

"Nope," I told him. "Zero is part of D-Tent." I looked over at Zero who was laying on his cot staring at the ceiling.

Squid groaned. "He doesn't matter."

"What do you mean 'he doesn't matter'? He's part of D-Tent, isn't he?" Squid crossed his arms but didn't say anything. I started making my way over to Zero when all of a sudden he got up off his bed and exited the tent. I stared. "Okay, I guess he isn't part of D-Tent!" My voice started out low but then got louder. The way he walked out made my temper spark. He could've just shook his head or something and I would've left him alone. I looked back at Squid. "Guess it is your turn."

"Guess it is." A grin appeard on his face. He looked so dang cute standing there.

I rolled my eyes and went over to him. Our bodies were just inches apart. When I lifted my head to look at him, we were so close that he could've easily placed a kiss on my forehead without having to lean in. I decided to draw out the moment just for the heck of it. I placed my hands on his stomache and let them slide up over his chest. I let my left hand rest on his shoulder and ran my right hand through his hair. His hands found their way to my lower back and started pulling me closer to him as he bent his head down for the kiss. I closed my eyes and felt my lips brush his soft lips... then I quickly pulled away and out of his grasp.

"I'm going to go take a shower," I said, trying to keep a smile away from my face. I ignored the boys who were now laughing and making fun of Squid.

It seemed to take Squid awhile to find his voice. "What the hell was that?"

I looked at him and nearly smiled. "What do you mean?" I asked, playing stupid.

"You call that a kiss?"

"You're starting to sound like Magnet." I got my towel and pajamas out of my crate and bag. His mouth opened and closed but he couldn't find anything to say. As I was walking out, I stopped and turned around. "What were you expecting, Squid? A full make-out session? What led you to think I would do that?" I left while everyone except Squid cracked up again and I finally let a huge smile plaster itself on my face.

**A/N: I can't stand Mel after what she did to Squid! I feel bad for him. Hmmm. I wonder if he's gonna try and get back at her for that? ^ ^ Well it was a short chapter but worth it. Ok maybe not. She's such a... tease. Review and let me know what ya think. Should Melina burn in hell for doing that to Squid? :)**


	13. A Sticky Morning

I moaned and shut my eyes tighter as the bugle went off to wake everyone up. Even though it was extremely annoying, I was glad to actually _hear _it. It was better than the boys having to wake me up like they've been doing for the past few days. Having boys shout in your ear and shake you didn't start somebody's day off good, especially if you weren't a morning person.

Trying to turn over to shove my face into the pillow, I found that my shoulder kept hitting something in the way. I opened my eyes and let out a startled yelp. I rolled the other way and fell off my cot.

"What the _hell _do you think you're doing, you goober?!" I shrieked, still laying on the floor. I ran my hands down my face. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Good morning."

I rolled my eyes and propped myself up on my hands. "'Good morning'?! That's all you have to say for scaring the crap out of me?!"

"How'd I scare you? I was just laying here."

"Squid," I said in a more quieter voice, "just seeing your face is enough to make Hercules run and hide in a corner."

"Ha ha," he gave a sarcastic laugh, "You're the funniest person in the world. Did you know that? All the same, I had fun last night."

Seeing the boys whip their heads so fast to look at Squid and me made my own neck hurt. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

He climbed out of bed and meaningfully straightened his boxers. "Don't play dumb, sweetheart," he said and winked at me.

My jaw dropped along with the other occupants of D-Tent. I stood up and shook my head. "Nothing happened last night," I told them, then looked at Squid. "Quit lying! We didn't do anything!"

He looked at me with an innocent look, but I could definitly see humor behind those eyes. "Baby, why are you getting so defensive? These guys don't mind."

I swore I was about to rip my hair out. "Squid! Shut up! You're being an idiot!"

"Wait. So you mean you two...." Armpit gestured between us suggestively.

"No!" I yelled while Squid said, "Bingo."

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. I then opened them and said in a much calmer voice, "Guys, if I had sex with that fool you would've been woken up with his moans."

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" Squid thought aloud to himself.

"Besides," I said with a smirk, "you wouldn't hear _me_ moaning Magnet's name."

"I know, you would be moaning my name."

I slapped my hand to my forehead. "It's way too early for this." I started getting ready while the other boys, still confused, did the same.

Outside we grabbed our shovels and honey tortillas. An idea popped in my head and I jogged up behind Squid. "Hey, sexy," I smiled and rolled my eyes at the nickname.

He turned around with a smirk. "Yeah?" The smirk suddenly disappeared as I pushed the honey tortilla in his face.

I laughed as it stuck to his face for a second and dropped to the ground. He looked disgusted and pissed off. I held my stomache and fell to the ground. Other boys were looking our way to see what was so funny.

"What's going on here?" Mr. Sir walked up with a mug full of, what I assumed, was coffee. "Squid, what happened?" he asked him since I was having trouble breathing.

Instead of answering, Squid said, "Can I go get a napkin to wipe this off?"

Mr. Sir nodded. When Squid walked off, Mr. Sir grabbed my arm and yanked me up. "Quit messin' around. Get goin'."

"S-Sorry, Mr. S-Sir," I managed to say. I picked up my shovel that had fallen with me to the ground and wiped the tears out of my eyes. Making my way out into the desert, I cast a glance over my shoulder and saw Squid a ways back shooting daggers at me. I knew I was going to pay hell for what I had done later.

**A/N: Hope you smiled at least once while reading this. :) I wanted to get something posted since I'm leaving for MS. tomorrow and I'm not quite sure if they have WiFi connection in Tunica. Also, I want to thank all my beautiful reviewers. You guys are smackin'-crackin' like always! I can't believe I acutally made it up to this chapter, and I don't even think I'm halfway through. Lol. R&R! **


	14. Silent Treatment

The silent treatment. I love giving people the silent treatment, even though the longest I went without talking was approximately thirty minutes. But I hate when someone gives _me _the silent treatment. For the first day I really don't care. Second day I _act _like I really don't care. Third day that someone finally breaks and starts talking to me again. I have never ever ever never had someone give me the silent treatment for a _whole week!_

I sat on my cot, chewing my nails, and stared at the floor with a glazed look. To most it would look like I was daydreaming, but to the few that knew me really good would know it's my I'm-about-to-flip-out look.

"Melina, you should try to relax." I felt Stanley sit down next to me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I stopped my nail chewing and looked at him. "Relax?" I asked while raising my eyebrows. "Relax?! How can I relax when I have someone giving me the silent treatment?! He could be planning my murder!"

Stanley chuckled. "I'm sure you would've heard if he was. It's not like you can't hear him. It's more like the other way around."

It was true. My hearing was back to normal and I could hear Squid when he talked to everyone about everthing. Except me. He wouldn't even look at me! "I don't like this!" I cried, pulling on my hair in frustration. "He's causing me mental pain! It's worse than physical pain!"

"He'll talk to you eventually."

"It's already been one whole week!"

"Yeah, but I'm sure-"

"What's with all the yelling?" X-Ray entered the tent along with the rest of D-Tent. Well, Zero was already in here laying on his cot either ignoring Stanley and I or listening to every single thing we said. I couldn't tell.

"_Don't worry about it,"_ I growled while trying to glare a whole into Squid's head, not that it seemed to be doing any good. He acted like I wasn't even there.

"Whoa. Easy," X-Ray said, holding up his hands defensively. "I didn't mean anything by it. Just wondering why you're shouting."

I stood up quickly off my cot and stepped up to X-Ray who took a step back with wide eyes. I don't blame him. Through his eyes I probably looked like a psycho killer. "You want to know why I'm shouting?! Huh?! Do you?!"

"....Uh-"

"Well, ask him!" I pointed to Squid who was laying on his cot, staring up at the tent ceiling with his hands behind his head. "I'm going to take a shower," I stated, still feeling extremely pissed. I grabbed my stuff and headed out.

About fifteen minutes later I was on the floor digging through my bag searching for my ipod. "Aha," I muttered when I finally found it. I sat cross-legged on my cot and put the headphones over my my head. Sure the shower helped calm me down, but maybe some music will help even more.

I switched the power button to On and started to shuffle through my songs, then the little screen went blank. Gaping at the stupid device I thought, _Are you effin kidding me? _After a few more seconds of staring at it, I ripped the headphones off and threw them and the ipod at Squid, yes, on purpose.

"The hell?" I heard him say.

"Good night, everyone!" I shouted and climbed under the covers wanting to die. This was possibly the worst week in my entire life. Well, maybe not the worst, but it was definitly in the top five.

***

As I stabbed my shovel into the ground, I kept shooting glances at Squid who was talking with Zigzag about some movie. I'll admit it. I was jealous of Zigzag. My mood would be changed drastically if Squid would talk to me. Heck, if he looked me in the eye and told me I was a bitch it would make my day! That's how bad I wanted him to talk to me.

I cleared my throat. "Hey, Squid?" I said in a calm yet desperate voice. When he kept talking I said his name again, but this time a little louder. Like before, he kept talking away. I growled and layed my shovel down. _I've had enough of this crap, _I thought as I heaved myself out of the hole.

I walked over and stood between Squid and Zigzag's hole. I looked at Zigzag and said, "Don't say another word to him." He stared at me for a moment and then shrugged, continuing to dig but remaining silent. "Squid," I said, focusing my attention on him, "talk to me. Please," I added. When he didn't respond, I sighed heavily and jumped down into his hole. He would've kept digging even with me in the way, but I grabbed his shovel and yanked it away, stumbling slightly for not expecting him to just let go of it. "Squid," I said again, placing the shovel behind me.

"Why don't you kiss him?" Magnet joked. "That would get me talking."

Ignoring Magnet, I kept staring at Squid. He had his arms crossed and was leaning against the side of his hole, looking anywhere but at me. "Come on," I whined and stomped my foot, "I don't like the silent treatment. It makes me go crazy! And gets me depressed. Please, please talk to me already!" I put my hands on my head and looked around. I was starting to get desperate and wasn't caring if I sounded like a little kid. "I don't know what.... I just.... I'm sorry. If you're mad I didn't mean to make you _this _angry." I glanced at Squid to see him looking at me, so I continued, looking at the ground. "I have to say though, I have just as much a right as you- Wait a sec." My head shot up. He was looking at me. Squid was actually looking at me! My eyes went wide. "Are you actually paying attention to me?" He raised an eyebrow and I thought I could detect a faint smirk on his lips. "Oh, my gosh, you are!" I laughed and threw my arms around his neck. "I'm not going to go crazy!"

"I think it's a bit too late to say that," he said. I felt him uncross his arms and made a move to wrap his arms around my waist. Before he could though, I stepped away and punched him in the shoulder. "Ow!" He rubbed his shoulder and had a confused look on his face. "Wh-"

"If you _ever _give me the silent treatment again, I will disembowel you," I threatened him.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I hear you, Fuse."

I paused and my eyebrows furrowed. "Fuse?"

"Yep," he grinned. "Your new nickname. Since you obviously have a short fuse." He gave a soft laugh.

I thought about that. _Fuse. Hmmm.... Not bad. _

**A/N: Finally she got a nickname! Sorry sorry that it took so long to update. I got taken hostage and when I escaped I found out I was in California and had to hitchhike all the way back to the boondocks. That's my excuse. **

**Anyways.... Three things. First: I'm up for suggestions about songs she should sing. They can be happy, weird, sad, etc. Next chapter I'm gonna have her sing and... someone... walks in on her, but I'm not sure what song she should be sing. So let me know.**

**Second: I'm going to bring another character into the story to give it some more excitement(?) I guess. No worries, it's not going to be a girl. Tell me what you think about my four, count em, four options. A boy who is extremely hyper (and i mean extremely), a boy who is gay, a boy who is quiet ('emo') whatever, or a boy who has ginormous attitude (anger) problems (worse than Mel's... or Fuse's....). **

**Third: Review. :) Again, sorry for the long wait.**


	15. Fuse VS Zero

Earning a nickname before Stanley made me happy. It proves that I'm way cooler than him.... Okay, maybe not. All it proves is that I have a temper problem that I needed to work on, but still.

Earlier today Stanley, or I should say _Caveman,_ found a fossil of a fish and got upset over it since it didn't get him a day off. Haha. Then I just heard from Magnet that he nearly got into a fight with Lump. No, no. Not just Lump. _The _Lump.

"Ooooh, scary," I told Magnet sarcastically. "The Lump is one intimidating nickname." I looked back at the song I was writing down. I read over the lyrics and then scratched them out.

"He may not sound it, but he can get pretty aggressive." Magnet turned around and headed out the tent flap just as Zigzag came in.

"Hey, Zig," I greeted him.

"Hey. You ready?" he asked, coming to stand beside my cot.

I put my paper up to my chest so Zigzag couldn't read it. I never let anyone read my songs until I had completed them. "Ready for what?"

"You get to choose: Caveman or me."

"Well, tell me what I'm supposed to be ready for and then I'll choose," I said.

Zigzag sighed. "For the pool tournament."

"Oh, yeah!" How could I have forgotten about that? "Um, do you mind if I go against Stanley first? You know, to warm up?"

He shrugged. "Sure, go ahead, but I'll still win."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Oh-ho! So you do have a cocky side to you." I put my things away and then stood up, tying my jumpsuit sleeves around my waist. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that won't be happening."

With a smirk on both of our faces, we left the tent and went to the 'wreck' room. All of D-Tent was in there and other campers doing their own things. Zigzag and I made our way to the pool table where Stanley, Squid, Magnet, and X-Ray were all standing. Armpit and Zero were sitting on the couch watching the broken T.V.

"She wants to face Caveman first," Zigzag informed them.

"Yeah, and Stanley is going down!" I shouted and gave my opponent a playful shove.

"It's Caveman," Magnet corrected me.

"Whatever," I replied. "You can break, _Caveman."_

Playing against Caveman was like playing against Magnet again, only Caveman didn't start swearing in Spanish when he lost. Zigzag was a bit tough. It didn't make it any easier that Squid started messing with me. When it was my turn to shoot, I happened to look up and saw him staring at me. _Me!_ Not the que ball. Not the nine ball. Me. My face. What the heck? It made the game seem to last even longer, but I still won. Go me!

"Good job," Zigzag muttered and then stalked off.

I rolled my eyes but still kept a smile on my face. "Oh, Squid, my darling," I said in singsong voice. "I think it's time for you to get beaten."

"Not yet," he also said in a singsong voice that made me laugh. Then he said in his normal voice, "You still have Zero to face."

I let out a groan. "Oh, yeah. How come I always forget about him?" I wondered out loud.

Squid shrugged. "Zero, you're up!" he called out to Zero.

Zero stood up silently and came over. He took the pool stick that was placed on the table and looked at Caveman who whispered to him, "Good luck."

_Gee, thanks for wishing me good luck, _I thought to myself. "So, Zero, do you want me to break or.... Okay, nevermind."

As I was talking, Zero took the liberty of breaking. He got a stripe in and he continued to get stripes in. This match against him can be described in four words: He. Kicked. My. Ass. I maybe got to hit the que ball twice, but that's it. It was almost embarrassing.

"_Daaaaaaamn," _I said when he won. "You rocked this game. Good job." I held out my hand to him. Sure, I was disappointed that I lost, but I'm a good sport... sometimes.

Zero looked at my hand and then at me. Without taking my hand, he started to walk around me. My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion and anger. "_Hello_. I congratulated you," I said while grabbing his shoulder and turning him around. "Aren't you going to shake my hand?" Again, he said nothing and turned around. "Hey!" I grabbed him again but this time he smacked my hand away and continued on his way. "Asshole!" I screamed. "No wonder why you got no friends!" A couple of boys looked at me but I didn't care. "Don't expect me to _ever _be your friend!"

"Mel, quiet down," Caveman said and followed after Zero.

I looked at him in shock. "Go ahead and take his side! See if I care!" I continued screaming. "Don't bother talking to me again! I don't care-"

A hand clamped over my mouth and I looked up and met Squid's amused eyes. "You're going to wear your voice out if you keep screaming like that."

I removed his hand from my mouth and pushed him away about a foot or two. He was halfway in my bubble and Squid definitly didn't want to pop my bubble when I was in this mood. "I don't care," I said, but in a quieter voice nontheless. "Zero's just a... a... a...."

"Asshole?" Squid suggested.

"Yes. And Caveman is now a traitor." I put my poolstick down and ran my hand through my hair. I looked around the room taking slow, even breaths to calm down, then I realized Squid was staring at me. "If you take a picture it'll last longer," I muttered and looked away.

"I don't have a camera," he replied.

Rolling my eyes, I leaned back against the pool table. "Then commit my face to memory and quit staring at me."

"Why do you want me to quit staring at you?" Squid asked.

I looked at him like he was stupid and noticed he was wearing that stupid, cocky smirk again. "Maybe because it's rude and annoying."

"Or maybe it's because I make you nervous." He stepped closer to me, _invading my bubble, _and looked down at me. "Could that be why you don't like-"

"Shut up!" I elbowed him in the stomache, not hard enough in my opinion, and stepped away from him. "Don't mess with me. I told you why I don't like you staring at me, so leave it at that." I started to walk away, but when I turned I bumped into somebody. "Oh, hi."

"Hello. How are you?" Lisp smiled at me in a polite manner.

I stared at him--yes, I know I'm a hypocrite--before I answered. "Actually not so good right now," I said. "You?"

"Mmm, so-so."

"Oh." There was an awkward silence, and I couldn't stand awkward silences. They were just so... awkward. Luckily Squid was there to break the silence.

"What's up, Lisp?" The way he said it and the way he looked at Lisp made me think that they weren't the closest of friends.

Lisp had a mixture of emotions on his face that I couldn't read. "Not much." He looked at me and gave a smile that wasn't as bright as before. "I'll talk to you some other time." With that he walked away.

"So do you two not like each other or something?" I asked Squid.

"I'll tell you later," he said. "You ready to go back to the tent?"

"Yeah," I said slowly, still very curious.

We walked back in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, for some weird reason. The sun was more blinding than ever as it was setting behind the mountains. Back in the tent Zigzag, X-Ray, and Caveman were talking. I saw Zero laying in his cot and I flipped him the bird not caring if he saw it or not.

Squid climbed onto his cot and was about to stretch his legs out, but I sat on the foot of his bed, crossing my legs and looking at him. "What are you doing?" he chuckled.

"It's later," I told him. "So what's with you and Lisp?"

He rolled his brown eyes. "Your 'laters' are much shorter than my 'laters.'" When I just stared at him with a blank expression he continued. "There's not much to say. I knew him before I came here," he said and shrugged. "We just never seen eye-to-eye."

I thought about it for a minute and stared at my hands in my lap. It sounded like there was more to it, but if Squid didn't want to tell me I wouldn't bug him about. "Okay," I said and looked up to meet his eyes. I opened my mouth to see if he would still give me a chance to play him at pool, but he caught me off guard when he shoved me off his cot. "Hey!" I protested as I landed on the floor. I looked up and blew the hair out of my eyes. "What was that for?"

"You still didn't take a shower," he answered. "I don't want you dirtying up my cot."

"Oh, brother," I muttered as I stood up. "It's not like it's clean anyways." I heard him laugh as I grabbed my stuff and headed toward the showers.

I figured out a way to ignore the freezing cold showers. Singing. Singing was the key to my survival. So as I threw my towel over the low wall and pulled off my shoes, jumpsuit, tanktop, and all that other good stuff to reveal my bikini, I started humming a song and then started singing as I turned on the water and jumped in.

"_You never take, take the time to really look _

_Look at the one, the one I really am_

_You try to fit, fit me in your perfect box_

_You let me slip between the cracks_

_Now I'm faded_

_Into someone else _

_Maybe someone I don't wanna be_

_Yeah, I'm faded_

_My true color's gone_

_Like a picture nobody sees_

_I bet you don't, don't even know my favorite song_

_You tell me-"_

"So who'd you write that for?"

I jumped slightly and opened my eyes up to see Squid leaning against the shower wall with his arms resting on it. "Just because I sing a song doesn't mean I wrote it, stupid," I said a bit angrily since he snuck up on me.

"Sorry," he said defensively.

"What are you doing?" I inquired, closing my eyes and letting the ice water hit my face.

"Um, talking to you."

I mentally slapped myself. "No, I mean how come you decided to come out here while I'm in the shower? Again?"

He shrugged and raised an eyebrow. "What? Am I not allowed to?"

"Do you just like seeing me almost naked?"

"That could be-"

"Thought so." I cupped my hands together and let water fill up and then tossed it at Squid who protested and took a step back. Then the shower cut off. Sigh. Back home, I would be in the shower for no less than thirty minutes.

"I was just joking," he grinned and went back to his original spot.

"I don't care," I said. It seemed I wasn't caring about a lot today. "Get your arms off my towel." I grabbed the edge of my towel and waited for him to move, which he didn't, so I ended up pushing him off.

"Would you write me a song?"

I looked up from drying my hair. "What?"

"Would you write me a song?" he asked again, but this time he said it like he was talking to a slow person.

I glared at him slightly and threw my towel at him. "I heard what you said, but you want me to write a song _just for you?"_

He gave me an exasperated look. "I think I just said that, you retard!"

"Just for that little comment, no, I don't think I will." I walked off the shower platform and started to make my way back to D-Tent.

"I'm serious," Squid said as he followed me, soon to be next to me.

"So am I."

"Ah, come on."

"Why?" It was beyond me why he wanted a song written just for him.

"I think it'd be cool."

"Oh, yeah," I said in a sarcastic tone, "that's a really good reason." I snatched my towel that was hanging around his shoulders and wrapped it around me. When we were outside of our tent I stopped in my tracks. An idea had sprouted in my head. "I'll tell you what," I said as I turned to face Squid, "if you can beat me in a game of pool, I'll write a song just for you."

"Oh, now look who's making bets," Squid said with a smirk.

I smiled. "Deal?"

"Deal," he said.

I raised my eyebrows. "Aren't you going to ask what happens if I win?"

"It doesn't really matter since I'll win."

Well, isn't he just full of confidence? "We'll see." I started to turn away, but his hand caught my bare shoulder which sent tingles up my spine.

"Just out of curiosity," he said, "what happens _if _you win?"

"Nothing bad," I said with a sweet smile. "_You _have to write _me _a song...."

Squid removed his hand from my shoulder and shrugged. "That's fine by me."

"....And sing it in front of the _entire _camp."

**A/N: Oooo who's going to win? Who do you want to win? I really don't know why this ch. is this freakin' long. It kinda surprised me. And don't ask me what's up with Lisp. He just randomly appears. I don't even know if I like him or not. But I have a feeling he'll be back. Anyways thanks for the reviews, suggestions, and whatnot. They make me come up with more ideas and make me happy and puts a smile on my face. :) Btw the song was Faded by Everlife. And I hope everyone had a good Valentines Day and if you want to tell me about it I'm all ears. I got chocolate and a stuffed frog that I named Chester. Yeah, you heard me. Chester.**


	16. Cheating

_Mel,_

_Hey, girl! Did you die at camp??? How come you haven't wrote me??? And how's Stan My Main Man? You better write back!_

_ Lanise_

I rolled my eyes at the letter I held in my hands. Not even a 'I hope you're doing alright.' Not that I expected it. Stealing some of Caveman's stationery, I sat on his cot and began to write back.

_Lanise,_

_Hey hey! No, I didn't die at camp. I forgot your address. My bad. It's cool here, I guess....Okay, maybe not cool. Stanley and I got nicknames. Caveman and Fuse. Lame, aren't they? Tell me about it. There's a lot of guys here. A LOT! Some are pretty good-lookin'. Hint hint wink wink. Well, I wrote back. Happy? _

_ Mel_

The pen hovered over the piece of parchment and I fought back a smile. "Hmmm," I thought out loud, tapping the end of the pen on my chin. "Maybe I should tell her about the sexy, gorgeous, hott-bodied, toothpick-chewer Squid?" I looked over my shoulder. "What do you think? Should I?"

The response I got was a roll of the eyes and a chuckle. "Well, you already said some of the guys are good-looking, so I guess I count as one of them." Making his way around Caveman's cot, Squid sat himself down beside me and rested his elbows on his knees. "But if you want to single me out and tell her how hott I am, be my guest," he said with a smirk and glanced at me.

I stared into his brown eyes which were full of humor for a few seconds before I looked away, shaking my head slightly. "You poor, poor, conceited, little boy," I muttered.

"Little?"

"So if you win, what type of song do you want me to write you?"

It took him a minute to realize what I was talking about. "Oh, I don't know, but can you refer to it as 'singing' instead of 'writing'?"

I looked at him with slightly wide eyes. _Damn. He figured my plan out. _

"I'm not stupid," he said. "Writing and singing are completely different-"

"Yeah, yeah," I interrupted. I was slightly pissed that he knew what I was planning to do. "You have to tell me what kind of song you want me to _sing _though."

I watched him as he thought about it and then saw his cocky smirk slide onto his face. "Sing me something about love."

I raised my eyebrows, amused just the slightest bit. "Love?"

"Love," he confirmed.

We stared at each other for a few moments. I wondered what he was thinking when his hand brushed mine slightly, but my curiosity vanished when I stood up and said, "Fine. A song about love it is. Same goes for you if I win." I searched for an envelope in Caveman's backpack and then wrote down Lanise's address from the envelope she had sent her letter in. I knew Squid was watching me, so before I sealed the letter up, I grinned and wrote:

_P.S. There's this one boy that goes by Squid...._

I couldn't help but laugh when I sealed the letter up and heard Squid mutter, "Oh, brother."

When we entered the 'wreck' room it seemed more crowded than usual. There was a bunch of boys surrounding another boy who had bushy, dark hair. They were patting him on the back and smiling, but it looked like the boy with the bushy hair was even more excited than them.

Noticing my confused look, Squid leaned toward me. "That's G.A. He gets to leave tomorrow."

"Oh," I said, a bit jealous that it's his time to leave. "G.A.?"

X-Ray gave a soft laugh. "Graceful Assassin."

I cleared my throat. "Okay then." An assassin at this camp? Now that made me wonder what crimes the other guys at this camp committed. "Are ya'll ready for the game?" Squid and I told D-Tent the night before about our match and they agreed to watch.

"Yeah!" Magnet exclaimed. "I can't wait to see Squid sing in front of the entire camp."

"Get used to disappointment because that's not going to happen." After Squid racked the balls up, he allowed me to break first. "Aww, too bad you didn't get anything," he said in a mocking voice before he got a stripe ball in. From there he got three more of his pool balls in.

Let me tell you, when I think it's necessary, and when I know I'm not going to get caught, I'll cheat. Nothing is wrong with cheating in my opinion, but when it is quite obvious that someone cheats and nobody does anything about it, I get pissed off.

I aimed at the black ball and called the pocket, and when I pulled back to shoot, someone pushed my pool stick forward, making me completely miss the que ball. "What the hell?!" I cried, outraged, and spun around. "I get a retake on that shot!"

"No retakes," Squid said calmly, making his way around to the other side of the pool table.

"But you freakin' cheated! I would've won if you didn't-"

"Don't be mad 'cause I'm about to win." With that said, he called the pocket and sunk the eight ball in. "I think you should start working on that song."

I shook my head, still steamed that he cheated. "No, I don't sing songs for cheaters."

Armpit raised his eyebrows. "How'd he cheat? All he did was walk past you and accidently bump your pool stick."

"He did it on purpose!" I shouted, glaring at Squid who was acting oh-so-innocent.

"I don't cheat," he stated, leaning against his pool stick.

My eyes widened in frustration. "Caveman, did Squid not cheat?"

Caveman shrunk a little after being put on the spot. "Um... I have to agree with Armpit. All he did was walk by you."

"Why are you taking his side?!"

"I'm not taking nobody's side, I just-"

"Don't even talk to me," I said, and pushed past him to the exit.

**A/N: I was going to write more to this chapter but decided against it since it was taking me too long to write the next part of this one. If you have any suggestions about what song Mel should sing to Squid let me know 'cause I'm even having a hard time finding one. Also I have another Holes story that I'm working on in case you haven't seen it/read it. It's called Candy Cane and the main character in there is completely different from Fuse. So read/review on that one too if you want, just don't forget about this one. :) There comes a point in a fan fiction writer's life where he/she gets over 50 reviews. For me, that time has come. Thank you everyone! **


	17. Love Song

It had been a couple of hours since I had stormed out of the 'wreck' room. Nobody came to check on me, probably thinking that it was a good idea not to bug me at the moment. I was sitting indian-style on my cot and held a paper in my hands that had lyrics written on it. After reading it over a few times I started humming to it. The silence in the tent helped me concentrate on the song.

"_You don't have to call anymore._

_I won't pick up the phone._

_This is the last straw._

_Don't want to hurt anymore._

_And you can tell me that you're sorry_

_But I don't believe you, baby_

_Like I-"_

"Who's that meant for?"

I jumped up and turned abruptly to see Squid sitting on the cot behind me. "What do you think you're doing?!" I shouted at him.

He shrugged. "Listening to you sing. You sing good without your guitar."

"Don't ever listen to me sing unless I give you permission!" I continued to shout while pointing a finger at him.

Squid rolled his eyes and stood up. "So who was that song for?"

"None of your business! Leave me alone, cheater!" I knelt down to put my song in my duffel bag. Okay, so I didn't want him to leave. Why? I don't know. He ticked me off most of the time, but there was also something else that I felt toward him. Like a happiness everytime he was near me. I hate to admit it, but it was sort of like the feeling I had for one of my exes when we were going out....

"Nah, I don't feel like it." He smirked at the scowl I sent his way. "So have you wrote my song yet?"

I sighed and stood up. I thought for a second and then grabbed my guitar from my case. As I was pushing the case back under my cot, the rest of D-Tent filed into the tent.

"Hey, Fuse. You gonna sing Squid his song now?" Magnet asked me.

Not answering, I grabbed Squid's wrist and pulled him after me out of the tent. The sun was down past the mountains and the stars were out. The lights outside illuminated the brown buildings. I walked toward the holes that had been dug quite some time ago. It was a silent walk, but neither of us minded it. Once we got past a few holes I let his wrist free and sat down, letting my feet hang down in a hole.

"You should be more careful," Squid said then sat down next to me.

"Careful about what?" I asked confused. "Sitting down?"

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You do know about the yellow spotted lizards, right?"

"Oh. Yeah, I've heard about them." I looked down in the hole cautiously. "I just forgot about them."

Squid snorted out laughter and leaned back on his hands. "What's the song called?"

"'Love Song,'" I answered while looking at him.

"How original," he said, rolling his brown eyes.

"Hey!" I pouted. "Be nice."

"Or what?"

"Or your mom," I replied.

"Very nice comeback," he said sarcastically.

I stuck my tongue out at him and he just smirked. _Oh, gosh, you're hott when you- Wait. Did I just call Squid hott? Well, of course he's hott, Melina, no one can deny that. Just don't start drooling. _Squid brought me out of my thoughts when he tucked a strand of my red hair behind my ear. I looked away from him and tried my best to hide my grin.

Squid cleared his throat. "Are you going to sing or not?"

Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could tell he was smiling. "Uh, yeah." I also cleared my throat and started picking at the guitar strings mindlessly. "There's so many stars out here," I muttered, looking up at the night sky.

"Quit delaying."

I stopped playing and glared at the boy next to me. "I'm not delaying!"

"You're delaying."

After glaring at him for a few more seconds, I focused back on my guitar and started playing the chords to my song. Squid sat up and his shoulder lightly brushed mine. _Why the hell is he sitting so close?! Is he trying to make me nervous?_

_"Head under water and they tell me _

_To breathe easy for awhile._

_The breathing gets harder, even I know that._

_Made room for me, it's too soon to see_

_If I'm happy in your hands._

_I'm unusually hard to hold on to._

_Blank stares at blank pages._

_No easy way to say this."_

Looking over at Squid while I sang, I saw him looking down at the ground, apparently lost in thought. _I wonder why he wants me to sing him a love song so bad? _I wondered to myself.

_"You mean well _

_But you make this hard on me._

_I'm not gonna write you a love song_

_'Cause you ask for it._

_'Cause you need one, you see _

_I'm not gonna write you a love song_

_'Cause you tell me-" _

"Whoa, whoa, whoa."

I stopped playing and looked at him with a innocent expression. "What's wrong?"

He stared at me with a blank expression. "Are you serious?"

I stared back at him with the face of innocense on and then slowly let it fade into a playful smile. "No, I'm not." I laughed as he gave me a slight shove, grinning as he did so. "I don't have a song written for you yet," I told him with a serious face. "It's going to take me some time before I do write it because I've only wrote maybe two or three in my whole life."

"Really?" he asked and I nodded. "Who were they for?"

I was silent for a moment and took the time to study the stars. "The guys that I dated." Feeling Squid's gaze on me, I turned my attention to him. "What?"

"That song that you were singing in the tent, was that for one of them?"

"No," I sighed. "It's for my boyfriend."

"What?"

I jumped at the loudness of Squid's voice. "Shush. I said it's for my boyfriend." I could tell by the look on Squid's face that he didn't believe me. There was something else there, too. Jealousy perhaps?

"For some reason, I find that hard to be true," he said.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Why is that?"

"Why would you be telling your boyfriend not to call you anymore?"

"Maybe because he calls too much?" I said in a slightly irritated voice. When Squid just stared at me I gave a loud sigh and put my guitar at my side. I lifted my legs out of the hole and crossed them, dropping my hands into my lap. "I didn't have a chance to break up with him. He was out of town when I left."

"You can always write him a letter," Squid suggested.

I shook my head. "I don't think it's right to break up with guys like that, unless it's absolutely necessary. I like telling them face to face."

"Oh," was all Squid said.

"Yep." There was a moment of silence between us. I scratched my head and gave out a nervous chuckle. "Um, please quit staring at me," I said and looked over at him.

"I could stare at you all day."

_Did he just say what I thought he just said?! _I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling and brought my knees up to my chest. "Stop that," I said, covering my face with my hands. "You're making me blush."

He laughed and grabbed my left hand away from my face. He rose from his spot on the dirt and dragged me up with him. "We should get some sleep for tomorrow," he chuckled.

I nodded in agreement and picked up my guitar. "Yeah, we should." I started to walk back toward our tent, but stopped in my tracks when I felt Squid place a kiss on my cheek. The look I gave him was mixed with shock and happiness. He smirked at me and then headed back towards D-Tent. It took me a second to recover, but once I had I followed after him. "You expect me to get sleep now?"

**A/N: Finally I updated. Sorry it's been so long. Okay. A few things. **

**First: Review. Cuz they make me happy. :)**

**Second: The first song was You're Not Sorry by Taylor Swift and the second one was Love Song by Sara Bareilles.**

**Third: I know it's early, but I need to know so i know how to end this story. Should there be a sequel? You can tell me in a review or vote on my profile. **

**Fourth: I read another Holes fan fic and i loooooved it! I havent read anything like it yet and the chapters are short and sweet. It's called Love Letters and it's by myxdearestxapollo. You should go read it. My favorite chapter was the ones with Zigzag and Jean and the funniest was Amy and Twitch. :) **


	18. New Kid

I sat in my hole and took small bites out of my sandwich. I had woken up with a headache, and the sun burning down on me didn't help.

"Hey, chica! What's up?"

It also didn't help that the boys thought it would be funny to make my misery worse. All morning they've been shouting everything they said to me, except for Caveman and Zero.

"Shut up, Magnet," I groaned and closed my eyes in pain.

"I was just wondering what you were doing!" he yelled.

"What does it look like I'm doing?!" I screamed, standing up. "Leave me alone!"

"Be nice, Fuse," Squid said while walking over. "He was only asking a question. No harm ever came in asking questions."

"It's harming my head!"

"Then maybe you should stop shouting!"

I threw the rest of my sandwich at Magnet which he avoided easily with a smile. "What do you want?" I asked at Squid who was standing there looking out over the distance.

He shrugged. "Nothin'."

"Go away then." I picked up my shovel to start digging, but had to hault my process when Squid jumped down in front of me. Without hesitation, he bent down and kissed me on the cheek. "Hey," I said when he started climbing back out of my hole, "just because you got away with it last night doesn't mean you have permission to do it at random parts of the day."

He shrugged with his back to me. "You don't seem to mind."

"Yeah, well, maybe I don't mind." Gah! What was I saying? "You still don't have permission though!"

***

While the boys were taking their showers, I decided to go to the 'wreck' room. Lisp was sitting by himself on the ruined couch. I walked over and sat down beside him.

"Hey, you." I smiled at him while tucking my feet under me.

He gave me a smile in return. "Hey. How are you doing?"

I shrugged. "Eh, slight headache, but I'll live." _Slight _was an understatement. Even with the boys not around my head was still aching terribly. _I wonder if Dr. P has any Ibuprophen. Probably. He is a doctor. _"Can I ask you something kind of personal?"

"Er, I guess."

"Why is there tension between you and Squid anytime you two are near each other?"

"Oh, that." Lisp let out a small chuckle and scratched his head. "He's kind of the reason why both of us are here."

I stared at him. "Are you serious? What did he do?"

"He started a fight with me," he told me. "I was walking down the hall at school and we bumped shoulders. I said sorry to the guy, but anger just took over him or something. He slammed me into the lockers and kicked me. I defended myself as much as I could but it did no good."

I didn't know if I could believe Lisp or not. Squid didn't seem like the kind of person to beat someone up just for the heck of it. Then again, he is here at Camp Green Lake.... "So how come you're here?"

"He lied, saying I hit him first."

"Hmm. Ok." I stood up and made for the door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

_To hear Squid's side of the story. _"I'm going to take a walk around camp," I called over my shoulder.

The first thing that caught my attention when I stepped out onto the deck was a yellow school bus parked in front of Mr. Sir's office. I jumped down the steps and headed toward it. As I was trying to look through the dirt stained window of Mr. Sir's office, X-Ray came up beside me, startling me.

"Mom said he's going to be in B-Tent."

"Have you seen him?" I asked, referring to the new kid. I glanced at X-Ray who was holding a towel in his hand.

"How do you know it's a 'him'?"

He had a point. Since I was the first girl here maybe there would be more coming.... Or maybe not.

The screen door opened and out stepped a boy that looked around my age, perhaps a year or two older. He had blonde, messy hair and had two piercings in his lip and one in his eyebrow. He was changed into the orange jumpsuit, but there was leather bracelets around his wrists and a leather choker around his neck.

Dr. P came over to the guy and introduced himself. He spotted X-Ray and me and waved us over. When we got closer, the new guy looked us both up and down, then he turned away.

"Shawn, this is Melina and Rex. They are in D-Tent. Would you two mind showing Shawn around the place while I take care of a situation in B-Tent?" Without waiting for an answer, he walked off.

"Yo, Shawn, my name is X-Ray," my fellow D-Tenter said. "This here is Fuse."

"Hey," I said with a slight smile.

"Can you point me to where C-Tent is?" Shawn asked. His voice was deep and husky.

"Its's over there," I pointed to my right.

Pushing past X-Ray and I, Shawn headed for his tent.

"What the hell is his problem?"

"Remember, Fuse," X-Ray told me. "this is a camp for criminals. Not all of them are as nice as us D-Tent guys."

**A/N: I'm sorry for the horribly long updates. I'm going to try and start updating sooner. This goes with my other story Candy Cane. Next chapter will be longer and have more Squid/Fuse in it. I promise. :) **


	19. Food Fight CGL Style

According to Zigzag, I have been at Camp Green Lake for one month and three weeks already. It didn't seem like it. It seemed like one year. Over this period of time, Squid and I have gotten closer. No make-out sessions yet, but he kisses me on the cheek everyday and we snuggle. Yes, snuggle. After everyone takes their showers Squid and I will sit on his cot or mine and he'll hold me while we discuss random things. When I had told him what Lisp had told me, he said it was all a lie and that Lisp was the one who started the fight. I didn't know who to believe so I just let it drop.

I made my way toward the table where D-Tent was sitting, carrying the tray with crap on it in my hands. I dropped it down on the table and sat in front of Squid. I began to take hesitant bites out of my bread.

"What's wrong, Fuse?" Armpit asked me. "You seem kind of down."

I ignored him and continued taking small bites.

"She's probably upset because her class is going to an amusement park tomorrow."

"Hey, how did you know that?!" I shouted at Magnet who was sitting next to Squid.

He shrugged with a smirk. "I'm psychic."

"Psychic my ass! You went through my stuff!"

"It was laying out in the open," he tried to defend himself.

I threw the bread that I was holding at him and stood up. "Don't ever go through my stuff unless I give you permission! Do you got that?! Don't you ever!"

"Shut up and sit down, loudmouth," Squid said.

"No, I won't!" I rounded on him. I'm not quite sure what happened. All I know is I snapped and was shouting on the top of my voice and drawing attention to myself. "He has no right, in fact, none of you have a right to go through my stuff without me knowing about it! You especially don't have permission to read my letters and--" A loud gasp escaped my mouth. I wiped the beans off my shirt in disgust. Leaning over the table with a scowl, I flipped Squid's tray over in his lap.

"Ah, man," he mumbled in an agitated voice, "these were just washed, too." He stood up and grabbed a handful of Magnet's beans, then he slung them at me.

"Gross!" I shrieked when it got on my face. I reached for Caveman's beans and threw them back at the boy across from me. Unfortunately for me, I threw a bit too hard and half of my handful went to the table behind ours and splattered on the back of someone's jumpsuit. "Whoops."

The boy stood up and turned around with a very angry look on his face. "Who the hell just did that?"

Squid lazily pointed at me and I pointed at Caveman, who shrank down in his seat a bit. _Sorry, Stanley, but this guy looks like he's ready to kill someone, and it's not going to be me._

The boy walked over and looked at each of us. _What the hell? _I thought. _Is he trying to see into our souls? _"I'm going to ask one more time," he said slowly as if to make himself sound more threatening. "Who did it?"

"Your culprit is right here."

I glared at Magnet who was pointing at me. "I hate you," I said through gritted teeth. I looked at the boy who looked like he was about to jump across the table and strangle me and smiled innocently.

My mouth turned from a smile to an O shape when a bunch of beans landed square in the boy's face. It was very quiet in the mess hall and I realized that all the campers were staring at us. The boy let out a growl of anger and a string of profanities as he wiped the crap off of him.

"That does it!" He took beans off X-Ray's tray and threw them at the guy who had got him in the face: Zigzag.

Why Zigzag had threw beans at him was beyond me, but one thing was for sure, after Zigzag ducked out of the way, all hell broke loose. The kid who got hit with the beans aimed it at some other random kid and that random kid threw beans at another random kid and so on and it turned into a bean war.

_Where in the world are the counselors?! _I wondered as I tried my best to stay out of the way of flying beans. This was disgusting and quite funny at the same time. It reminded me of the food fight we had at my high school, except I didn't have to worry about one of the kids getting so angry they would kill someone. _Oh, God, please don't let someone throw a tray at my head. _

While all the comotion was going on, I caught a glimpse of someone come into the mess hall, but I couldn't see who it was.

"Excuse me?"

Just like that, everybody froze and became quiet. All heads were on the redheaded woman in the doorway.

_Damn. I wish I had that kind of power. She didn't even shout! _

She had her hands on her hips while she spoke. "What is going on here?"

"That's the warden." I jumped slightly when X-Ray whispered in my ear. He was kneeling down beside me where I was sitting on the floor. "No one messes with her."

_So I've heard._

"I believe I asked about what is going on in here."

"D-Tent started it, ma'am." It was the boy who I had hit first.

_Oh, I am in some deep shit now, _I thought.

"I want everyone out of here and back to their tents," she demanded in a strict tone. "D-Tent, you stay here."

X-Ray stood up and pulled me with him. I glanced around and saw that the mess hall now lived up to its name. Beans and other crud was splattered everywhere.

"Now, tell me," the warden said as she walked over to stand in front of us, "who started it?"

Everyone was quiet and looking anywhere except at the warden. I was praying silently to myself that none of them would rat me out. I also prayed that all of us wouldn't get punished. That's what usually happened back at school. If someone didn't confess to the crime, then everyone is accused and pays the price.

"Alright. If no one wants to step up then all of you will be cleaning up this place."

_Son of a bitch. _

I cleared my throat silently and prepared to tell her that I started the whole mess.

"It was me, ma'am. I started it."

_Hmm, why does my voice sound an awful lot like Squid's? _"No, it was me," I said and stepped forward.

"Don't be stupid, Fuse," Squid said while stepping up beside me. "It was me." He tried pushing me back, but I wouldn't allow it.

"You're the one being stupid, you toothpick lover."

"You just want to take the blame so everyone will love you back at the tent."

"That's not true! Everyone in D-Tent knows I started it!"

"Enough!" Squid and I both looked at the warden. "Since both of you seem like your eager to clean up the mess hall, both of you can do it. I want it cleaned up by tomorrow morning. No one else can help." She looked at the rest of D-Tent pointedly then spun around and left.

I couldn't believe she was making Squid and I clean up this _whole _place. This is going to suck big time. "Well, I'm going to get cleaned up first and get this junk out of my hair before I do anything else."

"Same here," Squid said.

Without waiting for the others I headed out of the mess hall. No one was outside except for a few councelors. Inside D-Tent I went ahead and grabbed my pajamas out of my bag. It was getting late anyways so I really didn't care. When the boys came in I was sitting on the floor by my cot. I didn't want beans and who knows what else on it, so I exploded when Magnet rolled across it.

"I am so sick of you!" I screamed and stood up. "You are switching spots with me tonight! No buts about it!"

Magnet just laughed and stayed as far away from me as he could.

I looked down at my cot and moaned. The boys started to leave the tent with their towels and I sat back down, shutting my eyes and waited while they took their showers. It was going to be a long night.

**A/N: R&R Special moment between Squid and Fuse next chapter. ;)**


	20. Arguments

The sun had already set when Squid and I started cleaning up the mess hall. I was mopping the floor while he scrubbed the walls. It was just the two of us. All the campers were in their tents, the warden went back to her air conditioned cabin, and Dr. P and Mr. Sir were God only knows where.

As I dunked the mop back in the bucket, I decided to break the silence that had been going on for the past fifteen minutes. I looked behind me at Squid whose back was facing me.

"Yo, Squid."

He glanced over his shoulder at me. "Yeah?"

I redirected my attention back to the mop. "Tell me about yourself," I said. "What was your life like before you came here?"

I heard him let out a humorless laugh. "It wasn't interesting for sure. Not very exciting."

"Care to tell me about it?" I asked when he didn't continue.

"Not really."

_Now I'm curious. _"Why not?"

"It's none of your business," he snapped.

Turning around, I placed a hand on my hip and glared at his back. "When I ask how you're doing it's none of my business, but you tell me anyway. When I ask if you're almost done digging it's none of my business, yet you tell me anyway. When I ask-"

"That's not the same." Squid let his rag drop to the floor and turned around. "Those aren't personal questions."

"Your name is personal-"

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What's your life like?"

"I believe I asked you first."

"You tell me then I'll tell you."

"I'm not in the mood to play twenty questions."

"Who's playing twenty questions?"

"Would you just answer-"

"No thanks."

"It's not a difficult-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Quit cutting me off!"

The silence that followed was heavy. I wasn't aware that Squid and I had moved closer while we were arguing until now. I could easily reach out and punch him in the mouth, which I wanted to do so bad.

"Why won't you tell me about _your_self?" he inquired.

"Fine." I threw my hands up in the air in defeat. "I have great friends, a mom who doesn't give a damn about me, an abusive father, and a boyfriend that I despise. Satisfied now?"

"Yes."

"Ugh!" I groaned and spun around. "You're so annoying," I muttered as I walked back to my original spot.

It was quiet for a few seconds before Squid spoke. "Are you going to ask about my-"

"Nope."

He let out a snort and I guessed he was rolling his eyes. "And you call me annoying."

"Oh, you are!" I faced him yet again. "You are _very _annoying!"

"You're not all that charming either."

I glared at him. "Get back to work."

He shrugged. "I'm taking a break."

"Taking a break? We haven't even been working half an hour!" And it was already late. We'd probably only be able to get a couple hours of sleep the way we were working.

"To satisfy your earlier curiosity," Squid said, stepping closer, "my dad ran off when I was three and my mom's a drinker."

"What about your friends?"

"I mostly kept to myself," he answered.

"Oh."

There was a comfortable silence between us and I noticed we were standing about a foot away again. His eyes had a hold of mine and I didn't stop him when he leaned toward me. The thoughts of Camp Green Lake and this stupid mess hall disappeared from my mind. My focus was on Squid's soft lips which were pressed against mine.

I had to hand it to him, he was a good kisser. I wrapped my arms around his neck while his arms wrapped around my waist. I smiled and reluctantly pulled away.

"Squid, we need to finish here or we're going to get no sleep."

He let out a groan but smiled nontheless. We kissed for a few more seconds and then went back to cleaning. As hard as I could, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I thought about our kiss.

**A/N: Sorry if the kiss wasn't that great (i'll make up for it i promise) and sorry that i havent updated in forever. I was out and about this summer but now that its about to end sadly, i can update more often, so thats the good thing. : )**


	21. ConsequencesPart I

The next morning the boys were shaking Squid and I to get us up. As I predicted we only got about two hours of sleep and not even the camp alarm could wake us up.

"Come on, Fuse, you got to get up.... Squid, wake up, man.... If you two don't get up the warden is going to come down hard on you...."

I completely ignored all of them and their shaking stopped when I backhanded Stanley. After a few minutes I heard them leave the tent and it didn't take long for me to drift back to sleep.

*****

When I woke up later, I kicked the covers off and ran a hand over my eyes. I was drenched in sweat from the heat and covers. I rolled off my cot and reached for my jumpsuit. I glanced over at Squid's cot and saw that he was still fast asleep with the covers on the ground.

"Get up, Squid," I called while pulling my jumpsuit on. When he made no indication of waking up I took one of my shoes and threw it at him. He shifted when it landed on his chest. "Squid, get up now. We're going to be in trouble."

Rubbing his eyes, he sat up on his elbows and looked at me sleepily. "Wha' time izzit?"

I looked at my bare wrist and shrugged. "Probably noon." _I wonder what happens if you sleep in around here. _

Squid got up slowly and threw my shoe back at me. I grabbed my water canteen after pulling on my shoes. Squid was tying his jumpsuit sleeves around his waist when I passed him.

"No good morning kiss?" I heard him say as I left the tent. I didn't answer and pulled my hair up into a ponytail.

I headed for the 'Library' to get a shovel. Squid caught up with me and I handed him a shovel.

"Well, well, looks like the sleeping beauties finally decided to wake up."

I turned around and saw Mr. Sir standing there. I would have said something but I was still tired and wasn't in the mood to argue.

"What do you think this is?" he asked. "A girl scout's camp?"

"Do I look like a girl to you?" Squid raised an eyebrow.

"Put your shovels back and follow me," Mr. Sir said, ignoring Squid. "The warden has something else planned since the two of you obviously deserve special treatment."

"We didn't mean to sleep this late," Squid said putting his shovel back. "We didn't get a lot of sleep because we had to clean--"

"That's not my problem now is it?"

Squid didn't say anymore as we followed Mr. Sir. He led us to the warden's cabin and told us to wait at the bottom of the porch steps. I watched as he knocked on the door. A few seconds later the warden appeared in the doorway. They exchanged words that I couldn't hear, then the warden looked at us and walked over, standing on the top step.

"I see you decided to get extra sleep today," she said, looking at both of us. "So since you seem to think you get special treatment for doing--"

"If you didn't make us clean the mess hall all night we wouldn't have slept in," I said angrily. "And for the record I don't think I deserve nor get special treatment." I knew I shouldn't have interrupted her but I couldn't help it. I was still sleepy, hot, and irritated.

She looked at me and walked down the steps slowly. _How dramatic, _I thought with dry humor. When she stepped off the bottom step she was pratically on top of me so I took a small step back but continued to hold my gaze.

"If you didn't start a food fight you wouldn't have had to clean the mess hall," she said in a quiet, cold voice. After a few more seconds of our staring contest, she looked over her shoulder and nodded at Mr. Sir. He nodded back and then headed for a shed next to the cabin. She looked back at us and put on a fake smile. "I got a few chores you can do today instead of digging. Sound good?"

"What do we have to do?" inquired Squid.

She gestured with her finger for us to follow her. I looked at the boy next to me and he shrugged. Around the side of the cabin was her car. "To start off, you're going to wash my car. When you're done I'll inspect it to make sure you didn't miss a spot."

"Fun," I muttered.

She glared at me. "If you think you're in hell now, it will be nothing compared to what I will do if you mess up my car."

I inwardly rolled my eyes and watched as Mr. Sir brought a waterhose, two buckets, soap, and a few sponges and rags over. I had to admit, this would be way better than digging a hole. I don't really know how she thought this was punishment.

"Get started," she said and left, shortly followed by Mr. Sir.

I never really washed a car before but I had watched other people do it. I picked up the hose and filled up the two buckets. "Pour the soap in one of those," I told Squid as I started to spray the car down.

"Isn't the soap supposed to go on the car?"

"Just do as you're told," I said.

I saw Dr. P take the truck out into the desert a little while later, obviously to fill up the others' canteens. My own canteen was still full. I kept cool with the waterhose, spraying it up in the air and letting it rain down on me. Squid caught me making my own rain. He spread his arms open and said, "Hit me."

So I punched him.

"I didn't mean like that!" he said, rubbing his shoulder. "I meant spray me with--"

While he was talking I aimed the hose at his face and squeezed the handle. Water sprayed out and he stumbled backwards, spitting the water out of his mouth. "Stop messing around, Squid, we got work to do." I started spraying the car again. Next thing I know, a sponge hit me right in the face. I turned to yell at Squid but then the water dripped in my eye and I let out a cry of pain. "Ahh, there's soap in my eye! You asshole! You got soap in my eye! Get me a towel!" I felt a rag pushed into my hand and heard Squid's laughter. I rubbed my eye with it and shot daggers at him with my right eye. It took a few minutes for me to see again with my left eye.

I heard footsteps and Squid stopped laughing. I turned to see who it was and got pushed out of the way by the warden. Instead of telling us off for messing around like I thought she would, she simply said, "Go wash Mr. Sir's truck." She got into the car without bothering to look at us and took off, driving over the waterhose in the process.

What bothered me was, not the fact that she told us to wash Mr. Sir's truck when it was out in the desert with Dr. P and the others, but the fact that the warden looked excited.

"She seemed happy," Squid stated.

I nodded absentmindedly. "It's rather disturbing." Squid chuckled and I grinned. I dropped the rag I was holding and walked over to the cabin's porch steps. Sitting down on the top step, I rested my arms on my knees.

"Is your eye okay?" Squid asked as he joined me, amusement obvious in his voice.

"Shut up," I replied, looking anywhere but at him.

"I'm just concerned. I don't want you to go blind. You wouldn't be able to see how good-looking I am."

"Don't be so conceited," I scolded, but smirked nonetheless.

"Just sayin'," he said. There was a comfortable silence before he spoke again. "What are you planning on doing when you get out of here?"

"Continue where I left off." What did he think I was going to do? Go to Hollywood and become an actress? "Go back to school, graduate, all that other good stuff. What about you?"

"Same thing I guess," he shrugged. I saw him looking at me out of my peripheral vision. "Do you think we'll see each other again?"

I rolled my eyes and looked at him. "Duh, of course we will. I'm not planning on loosing contact with my favorite boys just because we live how many ever hours away."

He smiled and leaned toward me for a kiss, but just then we heard an engine and looked to find Dr. P getting out of Mr. Sir's truck, and to our surprise, X-Ray doing the same. Squid and I exchanged confused glances and got up to go see what was going on.

**A/N: Ok firstly i'm looking for a song for Mel to sing to Squid, yes a love song. We'll call it 'Squid's Love Song'. Original i know. Anyways, if you guys know any love songs that would be good just tell me what they are and i'll listen to them. it can be country, rock, whatever. And then secondly i got a new poll on my profile page that you can vote cuz i need to decide about that for a certain chapter. So give me some song suggestions and go vote and then continue on with your day. :)**


	22. ConsequencesPart II

The morning alarm went off and I did my best to wake up, not that I even wanted to. I did my morning routine and followed the boys out to grab a shovel, but Mr. Sir called us and the other tent boys over to where he was standing. All of us stumbled over with our eyes half-closed, except for Magnet whose eyes were closed all the way.

Mr. Sir's voice drifted in and out of my ears. It was too early for this long of a speech, but after he said one simple sentence, I wanted to leap with joy.

"Listen up," he said. "After the behavior exhibited these past several days, the Warden and I have decided that your character buildin' be best served by returnin' to the diggin' of individual holes."

Okay, so it wasn't a long speech and wasn't that simple of a sentence, but 'by returnin' to the diggin' of individual holes' made me want to kiss him.... Well, maybe not kiss him. A hug would suffice.

"Alright, let's go dig, boys," Dr. Pendanski said and led us over to the shovels.

I spotted X-Ray and sped up my pace, bumping into him when I passed. He didn't say anything when I shot a glare over my shoulder. When it was my turn to pick a shovel out of the 'Library' I made sure to get the one with the red tape on it. X-Ray's shovel. I held on to it tight as I walked out onto the lake in case he tried to grab it from me, but he never did. After Mr. Sir showed me where to dig I looked up to see X-Ray already focused on digging, and that hit a nerve.

The day wore on and not once did X-Ray try to get his shovel back. He didn't even look at me! Oh and I wanted him to. I wanted him to be annoyed with me, but it was vice versa. I was getting annoyed at him for not being annoyed at me, and that was very annoying.

Mr. Sir came around with the water truck and I got in line to fill up my canteen. I figured that X-Ray would take his shovel back while I was still in line, but he didn't. I let out an exasperated sigh and rolled my eyes.

"You're still mad at him?"

"What do you think?" I snapped at Caveman.

Thunder sounded past the mountains and all of us stared at it longingly. It seemed like I'd never be able to see rain up close ever again. Mr. Sir only made it worse by telling us the most stupidest story ever.

"Mr. Sir, sir. No offence, but I don't think you could tell a good story to save your life," I commented.

"Well, who asked you?" he muttered under his breath and got back in his truck.

I shrugged and went back to my hole, glancing at X-Ray. A few seconds later Magnet broke the silence and showed us that he had stolen the sunflower seeds out of Mr. Sir's truck. Despite the current mood I was in, I let a grin slip on my face as we started passing it around. Squid passed it to me and after I took a handful I handed it off to Zigzag.

"You guys, he's coming back," Magnet said, alarmed. "Mr. Sir's coming back!"

"Catch it, Caveman," Zigzag said and threw the bag at Caveman, who seemed to be in a daze and missed it.

"You're such an idiot," I said as I watched Caveman throw dirt back into his hole to try and cover up the seeds and bag. I put my handful of sunflower seeds into my jumpsuit pocket and saw the rest of the boys do the same.

We were all digging when Mr. Sir stepped out of his truck, but Caveman was laying in his hole picking the dirt out from under his nails. _Way to look casual, Stanley, _I thought. It didn't take long for Mr. Sir to spot the bag of sunflower seeds in his hole and, like the nice little boy he is, Caveman took the blame.

"You should be very thankful," I told Magnet when Mr. Sir took Caveman back to camp. "If it was me, I would've called you out."

"Hey, I didn't ask for him to cover for me," he said defensively.

"No, but you could've told Mr.--"

"Don't worry. He'll make it up--"

"Shut up, I'm talking!!!"

X-Ray looked taken aback and the others looked at me like I was crazy. "What is your problem, Fuse?"

"You want to know what my problem is?" I climbed out of the hole and made my way over to him with his shovel.

"I think that's why he just asked you that," I heard Zigzag mutter but I payed no attention.

"What my problem is is that I'm mad at you!" I pointed at him while he climbed out of his hole. I think he was afraid that the shovel in my hands would come flying at him any moment.

"Why?" he asked, even though it sounded like he already knew the answer.

"Because you found that stupid, gold tube!"

"_Caveman _found the tube!"

"I think the Warden, Mr. Sir, and Dr. P will beg to differ!" I continued to shout.

It wasn't the fact that Caveman had found the gold tube but X-Ray took credit for it that got me mad. I was used to Caveman being bullied into letting other people getting what they want. Heck, I do it myself just for kicks sometimes. What got me ticked off was that we started digging with the other tents. Sure, it may seem like digging would be easier with more people and all, but it wasn't. The Warden made us dig three times as hard and everybody got in each others' way. Squid actually put a bloody gash below Caveman's ear with his shovel on accident.

"Drop it, okay?" X-Ray continued to argue. "It's behind us and we can't change anything. Be glad we're going back to digging separate holes."

I glowered at him for a few more seconds before I threw his shovel at him. If he hadn't jumped out of the way, more than likely he would've become a crippled boy. "There! Take your stupid shovel back!"

"No, by all means keep it!" To my surprise he threw it back at me. It would've hit me in the knee if I didn't sidestep out of the way.

Our little scene reminded me of when my elementary teachers told me to stop throwing pencils at my classmates because I could poke someone's eye out. _If only they could see me now, _I thought dryly as I picked up the shovel. I imagined one of them saying, "Young lady, stop throwing shovels. You can decapitate someone."

_Actually that's not a bad idea. _

I walked toward X-Ray and raised his shovel above my head. To my surprise, again, he grabbed the shovel out of his hole and lifted it above his head. I knew this was so childish, but at the moment neither of us cared.

I was mentally preparing myself for a full-out sword, er, shovel fight when the shovel I was holding was yanked out of my hands. "Hey!" I protested and spun around to find Squid holding it.

"I think she's gone _loco_."

Spinning back around, I saw that Magnet had a hand on X-Ray's chest. X-Ray was in the process of lowering the shovel.

"Calm down, you two," Armpit said, still in his hole digging. "We don't need to have a murder out here."

"Yeah," Magnet agreed. "Apologize and let's get back to work."

Crossing my arms, I stared at X-Ray, keeping my mouth shut. For a minute it seemed like he wasn't going to speak either, but he let out a breath of air and lowered the shovel all the way.

"Look, Fuse," he said slowly, "I know it didn't seem fair, but I've been here the longest. Caveman just got here, and if I was in his place I would've gave that gold tube to someone else, too."

Somehow I doubted that, but I kept quiet.

"So I'm _not_ sorry for that," he continued, "but I didn't know there would be a huge digging expedition. I _am_ sorry for that." He paused and then added, "And I'm sorry for thinking about killing you with my shovel."

To me, the apology wasn't sincere. All he was doing was fulfilling the duty as leader, being the nice guy, so the rest of D-Tent wouldn't think bad of him.

"Fuse, what do you have to say?"

I resisted the urge to tackle Magnet. He sounded like a mother. I still wasn't going to say anything, but Squid game me a shove forward. I let out a long sigh and uncrossed my arms. "X-Ray," I started, "I _don't _accept your apology, but you _should _be sorry because you started the whole thing."

"I'm going to kill her."

I let out a shriek and stumbled backwards as X-Ray brought his shovel up with lightning speed. Magnet stepped in front of him and pushed him backwards.

"Calm down, X!"

"Yo, I didn't start anything!" he yelled. "Caveman was the one who found it!"

"Then why wasn't he the one who got a day off?! Huh?!" I started to take a step forward, but Squid put his arm in front of me and Zigzag put a hand on my shoulder.

"Because he gave it to me!"

"It's not even about who found the stupid thing!"

There was a pause that seemed to last forever and I felt everyone's eyes on me. I even think Zero looked up at me.

"It's not.... Then what the _hell_ is this about?" he inquired.

"Forget it!" I turned and walked back to my hole. I had a feeling that X-Ray was going to kill me in my sleep tonight.

"No, I won't forget it! You better tell--"

"Drop it!"

"Can you believe that chick?!"

I glanced up to see X-Ray slam the shovel down in anger and frustration. _I'm definitly not going to sleep tonight, _I thought.

After a couple more minutes everyone was back to digging. I was almost finished with my hole and would've been done if I didn't get into that heated argument with X-Ray.

"What're you doing, Zero?"

Looking up at the sound of Zigzag's voice, I saw Zero jump down into a hole and start shoveling out dirt. I looked at the hole next to him and then back. "Did you just finish Caveman's hole?" When he didn't reply, I scowled and went back to work.

Caveman showed up a little later. He said nothing happened, but I knew that was a lie. I shrugged it off since he wouldn't tell us. Afterall, Caveman isn't the gossiping type.

**A/N: For some reason this chapter seemed to take forever and I'm not sure why. Anyways, for the next chapter I'm going to have the traditional Holes Truth or Dare chapter. So if you have any Truth questions or Dares you want either Fuse or the boys to answer or do, let me know and I'll see if I can work it in there, alrighty? R&R! :)**


	23. Truth or Dare

The warden came up to Squid and I in a bad mood after we got back from digging our holes. She told us that we still had to clean her car and Mr. Sir's truck, only this time by ourselves. So Squid took to cleaning Mr. Sir's truck and I cleaned the car. We didn't get done until after dark and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.

The next day was back to normal for us. X-Ray and I had silently agreed to pretend the little spat we had never happened. The eight of us talked and joked around to pass the time. One of the things we talked about most was what type of food we missed the most.

"I don't know about you guys," Zigzag said, taking a break from digging, "but right now I'm craving a mushroom and olive pizza."

"With Ranch dressing," I added while staring at the nice slice of pizza floating in front of me.

"You eat Ranch with your pizza?" I heard Squid ask.

"She eats Ranch with everything," Caveman replied.

Magnet laughed. "Well, I'm missing Pepsi the most."

There was a pause where we all just stared at Magnet. "Pepsi isn't a food, stupid," Armpit said. "It's a drink."

"It could be a food," Magnet shrugged.

"How can it be a food?" X-Ray inquired. "You drink it, not eat it."

"Look at Jell-O."

"What about Jell-O?" I jumped up to sit on the edge of my hole and stared at Magnet with raised eyebrows. "Jell-O isn't a drink."

"It's a liquid, though," Magnet said, also sitting on the edge of his hole.

"No, it's a solid," I argued. I really didn't know if I was right or wrong, but it seemed like a solid to me.

"If it's a solid, how come it's all slimy-like?"

"It's a slimy solid."

"Actually it's neither." All of our heads turned to look at Zigzag. "Jell-O is something that we call a colloidal suspension. The gelatin in Jell-O is made of long solid chains of protein molecules. When you mix the gelatin with hot water, these protein molecules break apart and become suspended in water."

I glanced around at everyone to find they were confused as I was, except for Caveman who was nodding in agreement. I would've expected him to say this kind of stuff, but Zigzag?

"However," Zigzag continued with his hand resting on his shovel, "the individual molecules remain solid. So this is not a solution. As the mixture cools, the protein molecules come back together to form long chains again. However, these chains go in random directions and form a lattice that traps the water molecule within its structure. So, what we have is a mixture of solid and liquid. When it's hot, then it is a solid suspended in a liquid. When it's cold, it's a liquid suspended in a solid."

A solid suspended in a liquid and a liquid suspended in a solid. It sounded pretty cool. Too bad I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Thus, it is classified as a colloidal suspension rather than as being either solid or liquid," he concluded and went back to work.

I looked over at Squid whose eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. Armpit was shaking his head with a look of disbelievement and X-Ray and Magnet looked about ready to laugh their heads off. I shook my own head in wonderment and dropped back down into my hole. None of us said anything until Dr. P came around with the water truck. We were all trying to figure out what Zigzag had explained.

***

"Fuse! Glad you're back!"

I raised my eyebrows as Magnet wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I had just got back from the showers with Caveman, him being my lookout.

"Glad to be back," I mumbled and shrugged his arm off me. I sat down on my cot and grabbed my hairbrush.

"We decided to play a game," Magnet stated with a grin on his face.

"_Okay,_" I said, waiting for him to continue.

"Truth and Dare!"

"First of all," I said, raking the brush through my hair, "it's Truth _or _Dare. Secondly, of course I'm game."

So we all sat in a circle on the floor, pushing a couple of cots out of the way to make room. I was seated in the middle of Squid and Caveman, across from Armpit. To everyones' surprise, Zero was sitting silently next to Caveman.

"I guess I'll go first," Magnet said, rubbing his hands together and looking at me.

I rolled my eyes and was about to say something sarcastic but X-Ray said, "It's polite to let girls go first," he said then looked at me. "Go ahead, Fuse."

Flashing a quick grin at Magnet, I looked around the circle and let my eyes rest on Caveman. "Caveman, truth or dare?"

"Truth," he said quietly.

_Of course, _I thought, but smiled happily nonetheless. "Who was your first crush?"

"Of all the questions you could've asked, why--"

"Just answer it, Stanley, and be truthful," I laughed. I, of course, already knew the answer. This was just for entertaining the others.

"Alright." He looked at his hands in his lap. "You."

"Aw, you serious, Caveman?" Armpit laughed along with the others.

"She should be like your sister, man," Squid chuckled.

Caveman looked up with a tint of red on his cheeks. "She is like a sister to me. I had a crush on her back in Junior High."

I never went out with Stanley, but I remembered the hearts he used to make and give to me on Valentines Day and beaded bracelets he made me for Christmas. Kind of childish, but still sweet. "Your turn, Caveman," I said, giving him a playful shove.

"Er, okay, um...." He looked around at each of us for a whole minute. I knew he was nervous that whoever he chose would knock the daylights out of him. I think this was actually his first time playing this game.

"Pick someone already!" Squid exclaimed getting impatient.

"Squid, truth or dare?" he blurted out, but as soon as he did his eyes went wide with fright.

Squid just rolled his eyes. "Dare."

_Oh, he's being Macho Man, _I thought and snorted with amusement. Squid raised an eyebrow at me but didn't ask what I thought was funny.

"Um, I dare you to take off your shirt, er, I guess."

I couldn't resist slapping my forehead. "Of all the things you could've dared him to do...." I mocked Caveman.

Rolling his eyes again, Squid said, "Just for you, Caveman," and he pulled off his shirt with deliberate slowness. Or maybe it was just me watching in slow motion.

"Fuse, truth or dare?"

"Truth." Yes, I was a little bit afraid of what the boys might dare me to do, so for the moment I was sticking to Truth questions.

"Have you ever flashed someone?"

I tried to glare at him but failed when I started laughing. "Yes."

"You _did?" _exclaimed Magnet. _"Who?" _

"Sorry, Magnet, but it's not your turn yet." I turned to Zero. "Truth or dare, Zero?"

He remained quiet, as if pondering the question, but then he let a small "truth" escape his mouth.

Not wanting him to get mad and leave, I asked him a harmless question. "If you could eat one food everyday for the rest of your life, what would it be?"

He was quiet again before replying. "Chinese."

I nodded my head. "Gross, but okay."

"Stanley, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

I guessed Caveman thought Zero would give him a very simple, nonembarrassing dare. So I almost died laughing when he got dared to moonwalk across the tent. He ended up tripping and having the whole tent laughing at him, including Zero! Even though Caveman turned bright red, he joined in the laughter.

"Zigzag, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

That shocked me a little bit. I was sure he would be the type to choosed Dare. Zigzag was full of surprises.

"Have you ever cheated on a test?" Caveman asked.

"Nope."

"Yeah, right," X-Ray snorted.

"I don't know," Squid said, eyeing Zigzag. "After the speech he gave us about Jell-O I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who invented the light bulb."

"No, that would be Thomas Edison," Zigzag said. "If I had invented it I wouldn't be alive right now."

"It was a joke, Zig," Magnet told him.

"Truth or dare, Fuse?" Zigzag asked, ignoring Magnet.

"Truth."

"_Chickeeeeen," _Squid said in a loud whisper.

"What is your worst fear?" he asked me before i could tell Squid off.

"Zombies," I answered quickly.

"Zombies?" X-Ray and Armpit said at the same time.

"Yep," I nodded. "Zombies."

"Zombies don't exist," Magnet said.

"Yes, they do," said Zigzag and me.

Magnet shook his head in disagreement. "No, I'm pretty sure they don't."

"Says you," I muttered. "But I hate them because they won't die."

"State the obvious, why don't you?" Squid said sarcastically.

"Truth or dare, Squid?" I shouted, getting a bit angry.

He smiled, which made me even more angry. "Dare," he said calmly.

"I dare you to kiss Caveman!"

All the boys laughed while Caveman started sputtering protests nervously. Squid tried to hide the disgust on his face and shrugged as if it was no big deal. He leaned across me and grabbed Caveman roughly by the collar. He yanked him forward and planted a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth. We all burst out laughing and Caveman looked like he was about to die.

Squid let go of Caveman and started to lean back. I was too busy laughing, so he caught me off guard when he wrapped an arm behind my neck and pulled me forward. I could vaguely hear the other boys gasp in shock then burst out laughing again as his lips met mine. I was shocked but also enjoying the kiss. It seemed like a very long time since we last kissed.

All too soon, he pulled back wearing a smirk. "X, truth or dare?"

I laughed out loud at his casual tone, all my anger from before fading away. Maybe Squid was the cure to my anger issues.

"Wait a minute," X-Ray said, holding up a finger. "Why does it seem like you two have done that before?"

"Maybe because we have?" Squid said with a raised eyebrow. "Truth or dare?"

"What else have you two done?" Magnet inquired chuckling.

I shrugged, still wearing a smile. "A little of this, a little of that."

X-Ray rolled his eyes. "Truth."

"What is the one question you don't want anyone to ask you in this game?" Squid asked.

_That's an interesting question, _I thought while watching X-Ray's reaction. _I'm glad no one asked me that. _

X-Ray had a poker face on when he answered. "I don't want anyone to ask me how I got here."

I found his answer a bit confusing. Did that mean none of them knew what he did to get here? I thought all the original D-Tenters would know what each of them did since they've been here for so long. It was weird because throughout the rest of the game none of us asked X-Ray what he had been sent here for.

We had a good time and soon all of us were choosing Dare, except for Zero, but no one made fun of him for it. I was called a jerk when I told Caveman to give Armpit a piggyback ride.

"How am I being a jerk?" I shouted, laughing at the same time.

"You're making fun of his size!" Squid yelled back and pushed me over on my side.

All of us cracked up as Caveman tried his hardest to give Armpit a piggyback ride. Even Armpit was making fun of him.

"Come on, dawg, I want my piggyback ride."

In another Dare, Squid and Zigzag had to exchange a clothing item and, them being gross boys that they are, decided to change boxers. They insisted I could watch but I kept my head turned.

The last Dare, Magnet had to give Mr. Sir a hug and say he loved him. Of course Mr. Sir got all pissy and told Magnet that cost him two weeks of shower tokens, then he made us get to bed. I still had a smile on my face as I layed on my back under the covers. I heard someone shift in the cot next to mine and then I felt someone's lips brush against mine.

"Good night," Squid whispered.

I smiled even wider. "Good night."

**A/N: !!IMPORTANT!! On my profile I have another poll up. The most important poll yet!!!! unless there's a tie that is. But its a vote to decide which song Fuse should sing to Squid. If you haven't heard the song or just want to listen to it anyways, i posted the videos with the songs in the Fuse section under Love Songs. So go watch and vote and i'll try to update asap. Btw if you wonder, YES that is 'Fuse' in the avril lavigne Hot video. I was lucky enough to find it :) R&R!**


	24. Fight

All the happiness and the joy from the night before seemed to magically disappear the next day from all of us. It seemed we were purposely doing things just to get on each others' nerves. Zigzag had took X-Ray's shovel, resulting in X-Ray yelling at him. I stole Caveman's honey tortilla even though I wasn't going to eat. He went to get another, but Mr. Sir started shouting at him and refused to let him get one. A feeling told me Caveman had something to do with the ugly mark on Mr. Sir's cheek. Why else would he be more cold than usual toward Caveman?

As the day wore on, moods did not improve. Armpit was throwing his dirt into Magnet's hole. In retaliation Magnet cut in front of him when the water truck came around. By cutting in front of Armpit that meant he also cut in front of Squid. Armpit just grabbed the back of his jumpsuit and yanked him back, but Squid gave him a shove and was in his face until X-Ray pushed them apart, then they both turned on him. All of us were annoyed at Zero and Caveman for their stupid agreement. Zero would help Caveman dig his hole if Caveman taught Zero to read.

I made my way to the 'wreck' room when I finished my hole. The only D-Tent boys in there was Armpit and Zigzag. The rest were getting cleaned up in the showers.

Spotting Lisp playing pool with another boy, I walked over to them. I've seen the other boy around and believed his name was Skittles.

"Hey, Fuse," Lisp greeted with a smile.

I gave a small smile back. "Hey." I turned to the guy next to him. "Skittles, right?"

"Yep," he chuckled. He wasn't nicknamed Skittles for stealing the candy. He was nicknamed Skittles because of his hair. Every week his hair was a different color (today it being bright red). His tent mates looked through all his stuff and couldn't find any hairdye. Not even the counselers knew how he was dying his hair.

"Who's winning?" I asked looking at the remaining pool balls on the table. There were three solids, not counting the eight ball, and one stripe.

"That would be me," Skittles said. He had a cocky smirk on as he sunk the stripe ball in a pocket. He called the pocket for the eight ball and won. "Lisp isn't the greatest pool player."

"I only had three balls left!" Lisp defended himself.

"Wrong," Skittles said as he put the pool stick on the table. "You have no balls left." He chuckled at his joke and came around the table, standing beside me. He threw an arm around my shoulders. "Do you want to go back to my tent and... talk?" he asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Um, no thanks," I said while stepping away from him.

"Ah, come on." Skittles stepped closer and tried to put his arm around me again, but I shoved it away. "I just want to get to know you better."

Lisp put a hand on his shoulder. "Dude, don't."

"Don't what?"

I crossed my arms. "If you want to talk we can do that in here."

"Yeah, we could, but it's more private in my tent," he insisted.

"No thanks," I repeated.

He reached down and grabbed my wrist. "Come on."

"Don't touch me!" I shouted and jerked my hand away. I didn't have to look around to know that people were looking this way.

"Stop, Skittles."

The tone in Lisp's voice made me look up. I followed his gaze over Skittles' shoulder and mine.

_Oh, great, _I thought dully. _Here comes Squid to the rescue._

He made a beeline over to us and stood inbetween Skittles and me. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked Skittles.

Skittles, who had to look up at Squid's towering figure, just shrugged. "I'm talking to Fuse. What does it look like?"

"It looks like you're trying to get my _girlfriend _to do something she doesn't want to do."

A smile was trying to form on my lips when he emphasized the word 'girlfriend'. Lisp looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite place and when I raised my eyebrows, he shook his head dismissively.

I was wondering what that look meant when Squid snapped me out of my thoughts. "Oh, geez," I muttered as Squid shoved Skittles backwards. A few boys came over to watch. I turned around and walked over to a random table. Squid could kick Skittles' ass for all I care, but I didn't want any part of it. I didn't want to get in trouble by the warden again.

Sitting down, I glanced over my shoulder. More boys, including some from D-Tent, gathered in a circle around the two shouting.

"Do you mind?"

I looked across the table at the voice. "Oh, hey, Loner."

Loner was actually Shawn, the guy that X-Ray and I had met when G.A. left. He never talked to anyone unless necessary and kept to himself.

"Don't call me that."

_"Sorry," _I mumbled. I went back to staring at Squid and Skittles. So far it seemed like Skittles didn't have the guts to push Squid back.

"Are you not going to leave?"

Surprised he was talking to me, even if it was rudely, I grinned. "I wasn't planning on it, but since we both have nothing to do let's talk."

"Let's not." He started to stand up and I stood up with him. "What are you doing?"

"I just want to talk," I told him. "I won't take up too much of your time."

"Why do you want to talk to me?" he asked running a hand through his hair. "Shouldn't you go over there and control your boy toy?"

"_'Boy toy'? _He isn't my boy toy. And I was trying to be nice since you don't have any friends here." I had crossed my arms and was glaring at Loner. To be honest, I wasn't trying to talk to him just to be nice. I wanted to see if he could have a conversation at all, and apparently this guy didn't mind talking one bit. He just preferred to be alone.

"I don't need no friends here and I don't want any," he said. "I definitley don't want to talk to you, so leave me alone."

He took a step away, but I grabbed his arm. "Wait, why can't-"

My breath left my body as a fist rammed into my stomache. As I was gasping for breath, I barely registered a fist coming at me again until it hit me in my left eye. Dots clouded my vision and I took a step back, doubled over. My leg caught on the chair leg and I tripped. I looked up and vaguely noticed Squid running then tackling Loner. I blinked several times, trying to make the dots go away. When I rubbed my eye I felt tears involuntarily sliding down my face.

I didn't notice anything going on around me as I was helped up and led back to my tent. The pain in my eye was unbelievable. Sure I had gotten hit in the face before, but that was just my friends and I messing around. I've been in fights where I got punched, just not on the face. I could feel the ugly bruise forming on and around my left eye.

Something cold was pressed to my eye as I was sitting on my cot. I looked around with my right eye and saw Dr. P and the other D-Tenters, with the exception of Squid, all staring at me.

"How are you feeling, Melina?"

I gave Dr. P the best incredulous look I could. "I just got punched in the freakining eye! How do you think I feel?!"

"I was told that you also got hit in the stomache," Dr. P said, ignoring my outburst. "Does that hurt any?"

"Not as bad as my eye," I sighed. "Where's Squid?"

"What did you do to Shawn to make him behave that way?"

"Nothing! I was trying to talk to him and he flipped out!"

Dr. P nodded. "Okay. Keep that on your eye and I'll be back in a bit."

I watched him leave the tent and then turned to X-Ray who was standing at the end of my cot. "Where's Squid?"

X-Ray gave a dry laugh. "He's getting chewed out by the warden and putting an icepack on his face, too."

"He got hurt?"

Magnet laughed. "Not as hurt as you. It would've been a lot worse if Mr. Sir and the warden didn't show up."

"It isn't funny," I muttered, lowering the icepack. Even though it made it cold and numb, the throbbing pain in my eye was still there.

"Actually it kind of is," Armpit said after taking a drink from his water container. "That kid is, what? The same height as you, Fuse?"

"Yeah, he got his butt kicked by a midget," Zigzag added.

"I am not a midget!" I went to lay back but I heard a crinkling sound underneath me. Sitting back up, I saw that two envelopes were sitting on my pillow. I placed the icepack beside me and opened the envelope that was on top; it was from Lanise.

Not paying attention to the boys who were still talking about the fight, I scanned through the letter. Mostly it was about school and other boring stuff, but the last few sentences caught my attention.

_Oh, yeah, by the way, the beast has woken from its slumber. And by that I mean Kyleen is no longer in a coma. She's completely changed though...._

_She's completely changed? What's that supposed to mean? She's no longer a bitch?_ I shrugged it off and grabbed the other envelope. I was relieved to hear that Kyleen was no longer in a coma. I still didn't like her, but hearing that she was awake instead of lying there unconscience like a dead person made me feel better.

I glanced at the return address on the envelope in my hand and frowned. It was from my mom. Opening the letter, I read through her messy scrawl.

_Melina, _

_I wanted to let you know that your father and I have decided to get a divorce. He is moving away after it's official. I'm not sure who will have custody over you yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I find out. _

_Love Mom_

**A/N: Another chapter posted! Just a few things though.....**

**1) On my profile I have links put up in the Fuse section if you want to see what Lisp or Skittles looks like. **

**2) If you know any good celebrities that look a bit like Loner to you let me know, cuz i kind of created Loner in my head but I still want to find a celeb that looks like him. So let me know if you know of somebody.**

**3) If you havent voted be sure you do cuz right now four songs are tied, and we don't have that many chapters left in the story (at least i dont think lol). **

**4) On a bad note I have the flu but on a good note i wrote out the prologue to the next installment to Fuse. Whoo! And yes that means there will be a sequel and I can gurantee it will be way better than this one. **

**So go about your day (or night) and R&R! :) **

**Oh and currently my new obsession is Deviantart so if anyone has any accounts on there and wants me to look at your art or other stuff you have on there let me know. :):)**


	25. Another Fight

I stared blankly at the letter in my hands, not really knowing what to think. I guess I was glad that they were finally getting a divorce, but what if my dad got custody over me? Oh, jeez. I'd probably kill myself.

Squid came in a short while later nursing a split lip and bruised cheek. "Thanks for the backup, D-Tent," he muttered and went to his cot.

"Hey, we had your back when you were yelling at Skittles," X-Ray defended them.

"Yeah, but then you confused us when you suddenly dived after Loner," Magnet added.

A short while later the boys left to go eat, but I remained in the tent with Squid. "I was fine," I said. "You didn't have to interfere."

Squid looked up at me. "He hit you. I wasn't just going to stand by and let him get away with it."

"I meant with Skittles," I explained. "I was handling it myself. Plus Lisp was there with me."

"And you trust Lisp?"

"Yeah."

The silence that followed wasn't awkward, but it made me wonder what Squid was thinking about. I pushed myself up and walked over to his cot, the letter still in hand. I pushed his legs over and sat on the edge.

"What's that?" he asked nodding to the letter.

I sighed and read it to him. "This could mean something bad or good. Well, kind of good anyways."

"How so?"

"If my dad gets custody over me I'll be living in hell for the rest of my teenage life, but if my mom wins then it won't be that bad."

"I see." Squid dabbed at his lip with the wet cloth he was holding. "My mom's an alcoholic. I think she's the reason why my dad left. If I had the chance I'd probably leave to."

"Why didn't you? Before you came here?"

"I wanted to, believe me. As I got older and thought about it, the idea seemed to get stupider and stupider though. I guess I was starting to develop common sense," he chuckled dryly. "I had no money on me, so I knew more than likely I would starve to death on the streets. I wouldn't have any place to stay."

"Couldn't you stay at a friend's place?" I never stayed at one of my friend's place because my jerk of a dad wouldn't allow it. I couldn't even spend the weekend over someone's house.

"I would have but none of my friends' parents really like me."

"Oh," was all I said.

"I'm not bothered by it. They have good reasons not to like me."

I looked at Squid. I would have kissed him but didn't want to hurt his lip, so instead I kissed him on the cheek. "Obviously they don't know you that well." Standing up, I held out my hand for Squid to take. "Ready to eat?"

"I suppose." He grabbed my hand and pulled himself up, leaving the wet cloth on his cot. When I started to lead the way, he pulled me back and placed a soft kiss on my lips. "Now I'm ready."

***

Over the week, my bruise faded but wasn't completely gone. It still hurt to put pressure on it. Squid's bruise had faded some too, but his lip still looked bad. I stayed away from Loner, not even glancing his way. To hell with trying to make a conversation with that dude if he was going to act like that. I haven't seen much of Lisp either. I had the feeling he was avoiding me on purpose.

I was, in fact, trying my best to avoid Caveman and Zero, not that I talked much to Zero anyway. The boys were getting more pissed everyday with the agreement Caveman made with Zero, about teaching him to read if the other helped dig the hole. Caveman already had a couple short arguments with the boys about how he wasn't using Zero as a slave. I knew one of the boys would take the thing too far, but I figured it was going to be X-Ray, Armpit, or even Squid....Not Zigzag.

Dr. P pulled up in Mr. Sir's truck to deliver lunch. I put down my shovel and walked over to the line.

"Where's your whip, Caveman?" I overheard Armpit say as he passed Caveman's hole. "Don't want your slave to be slackin' off."

"It's not slavery," Caveman said. "It's called agreement."

While I waited my turn in line, I saw Squid sneak some graham crackers and give some to Zigzag. I watched as Zigzag headed straight for Caveman, who was sitting by his hole eating an apple.

"Hello, Melina!" Dr. P said cheerfully. I ignored him and continued to watch Zigzag and Caveman. He followed my gaze and realized what was going on when they started pushing each other. He went over to them when Caveman tripped in his own small hole from one of Zigzag's pushes and, instead of breaking them up like I thought he would, he told Caveman to teach Zigzag a lesson.

_What kind of counselor is he? _I thought to myself, grabbing an apple and more graham crackers than we were allowed to have.

The two really got into it when Caveman decided to fight back. Despite Dr. P's shouts to stop, Caveman and Zigzag were rolling in the dirt throwing punches at each other. Zigzag slammed his fist into Caveman's head and Caveman fell to the ground. My heart started beating hard when Caveman just lay there motionless. I dropped the food in my hand and went over to him. I knelt down beside him and in my peripheral view I saw Zero jump on Zigzag's back and start choking him.

"Stanley, are you alright?" I asked, my voice laced with worry. I shook his shoulder and sighed in relief when he lifted his head slightly. Armpit's shouts made me look up and I could see Zigzag on the ground getting choked by Zero. Armpit was trying to wrestle Zero's arms apart when a loud bang made everyone jump and stop what they were doing.

"Now I said that's enough!" Dr. P shouted. "When I say to end something, I mean end it!"

I didn't think I've seen Dr. P this angry before. It was quite a sight. As I helped Caveman up, Zero came over to see if he was okay. All of us were ordered to go back to digging. While I dug, I overheard Dr. P talking to the warden over the walkie-talkie.

_This won't be good. _

**A/N: Sorry for the long update. I made an updating schedule so i should be updating this story every thursday. If i dont then you can yell at me and call me lazy for not following the awesome schedule that i made. haha so R&R! :)**


	26. Runaways

My mouth stayed closed while the the warden, Dr. P, and Mr. Sir tried to get answers from the boys. Most of their attention was on Caveman and Zero now. Zigzag and Squid announced that Zero was helping Caveman dig his hole and that definitely ruffled their feathers.

"You know why you're diggin' holes? 'Cause it's good for you. Teaches you a lesson," was Mr. Sir's explanation.

I thought they deserved to get yelled at, I'll admit it. But Dr. P was getting on my nerves when he kept calling Zero stupid. So I don't blame Zero for knocking the hell out of him with the shovel. I have no idea what he was thinking though when he ran. Did he know about some underground city out in the desert or was he just plain...stupid? Jeez, now look who's talking.

We had to continue digging after Zero ran off, but every once in awhile the boys would take a break and talk about what just happened. I wasn't worried about Zero. I figured he'd come back. Unless he found some underground city of course.

We finished up our holes, except for Caveman because he had to dig Zero's hole too, and went back to camp. After the guys took a shower, we headed toward the 'wreck' room. We stopped to stare at a bus pulling up. A guard and a kid with a sun visor on backwards stepped off.

_Wow, _I thought to myself, _they got a replacement for Zero quickly._

Dinner time was when we got to meet him, when Dr. P led him over to our table. Instead of the usual jolly introduction, Dr. P just told us the kid was named Brian and to help him out if he needed it.

It didn't take long for X-Ray to think up a nickname for this kid. It seemed impossible for Twitch to sit still. When he was talking about cars his twitchiness seemed to get worse.

I was staring at Twitch while he was talking about the car he stole, when I felt someone's eyes on me. I looked to my left and saw Magnet sitting there listening to Twitch and peeling the crust off his bread. On the other side of him was Zigzag, _glaring _at me. I don't even think glaring is a good enough word. His body was turned toward me and his wide eyes were staring _intently _at me. It looked like he wanted to murder me.

_Oh, great. What did I do now? _I wondered, turning back to Twitch but not really listening.

Later that night I sat down on the floor next to Caveman's cot. He was lying down and facing away from the others, pretending to be asleep.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked him.

He opened his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Zero is going to be alright," I said. "I bet he's going to try and sneak back in the camp tonight. Unless he found that underground city."

Confusion flashed through Caveman's eyes briefly before they went back to that blank gaze he had all day. He took a deep breath. "I think I'm going to go after him tomorrow."

There was a silent pause except for the talk coming from the other boys. This was probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard coming from Stanley's mouth, and I've heard a lot of ridiculous things coming from him, including shoes falling from the sky. "What, you're going to run off too?" He gave a slight shrug. "Are you hearing yourself right now, Stanley?" I wouldn't have believed him if he didn't look so depressed, and, boy, did he look _depressed. _

"He could be hurt or suffering from thirst. I could save his life if I find him."

"What if he's dead?" I didn't mean for it to come out so harshly, but he was starting to irritate me with all this stupid talk. I was about to apologize, but Squid's voice floated over to us.

"They pick out the eyeballs first."

I sighed and rolled my eyes while Caveman rolled onto his stomache and buried his face in his pillow. "Squid," I said with exasperation as I stood up, "why do you have to be such a moron?"

"Can't you take a joke?" came his reply.

As I went to my cot, Zigzag passed me and stared wide-eyed down at me. Seriously, this guy was giving me the creeps. I hoped I would make it through the night alive. He was still staring when I pulled my blanket up over my shoulders. "Please, quit staring," I said just loud enough for Zig to hear me.

He didn't say anything at first, but finally he said, "Goodnight, Fuse."

I heard Squid chuckle in the cot next to me, but I ignored him. I was laying there wide awake, listening for approaching footsteps. I was positive Zigzag was going to kill me or do something of the sort. I didn't even know what I did!

The night wore on and as snores filled the tent, I felt myself getting sleepier. I was calmed down more and thought about what Caveman had said. _There's no way he would do that, _I thought to myself. _No matter how sad he is about Zero, he would never do something that stupid. _

Turns out, I was proved wrong the next day when he crashed Mr. Sir's truck in a hole and took off after Zero. The only thought that was running through my mind was, _Please, let there be an underground city out there. _

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter was rushed but i really wanted to get it out of the way. Plus it was supposed to be posted last thurs. The next chapters are sure to be better. Since it's getting close to the end, if you have any requests or ideas that you want to happen between any of the dtent boys and fuse (or between any other campers and fuse) let me know and ill try to fit it in. Also im going to be taking down the poll next wk sumtime so if you havent voted for a song go do that now. R&R! **


	27. Kisses and Talks

My shovel dragged behind me as I made my way back to camp. I've done this for so many days it seemed like my body moved on its own. Wake up, dig, go back to camp, hangout, take shower, sleep, repeat. Welcome to Fun Land.

Stanley, or Zero for that matter, didn't come back during the night like I'd expected. I was a bit worried about them, though I wasn't going to let anybody know that. _I'm going to beat the crap out of him if he comes back. _When _he comes back, _I corrected myself.

I put my shovel with the rest of them and went to D-Tent. Squid was in there talking to Zigzag. When Zigzag saw me he stared at me with wide eyes and stood up.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "What is your problem?" I asked. I was getting tired of him looking at me like he was about to throw a knife in my back.

"He's upset that you checked on Caveman instead of him after their fight," Squid answered for him.

"Are you serious?" I had to resist another eyeroll when Squid nodded. I looked at Zigzag. "I checked on Stanley because he was knocked out and you were still standing! I didn't check on you after 'cause you were in a bad mood. Jeez, you can be so psychotic." Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. He walked quickly towards me and I thought he was going to hit me, but he just got really close to me before stepping around me and leaving the tent. I looked at Squid who was now standing with a grin on his face. "He has problems."

"You should apologize," he said, grabbing his towel from the crate next to his cot.

"No. What did I do?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You called him psychotic. He's already had to deal with the kids at his school calling him crazy and other names like that."

That made me frown and feel bad. "Well, I guess I'll go apologize then," I muttered.

"You can do that later." He came over to where I was and wrapped his arms around me. "I'm going to go take my shower. Wanna come?"

I smiled while my arms went around his waist. "No, but thanks for the invite."

"You sure?" he whispered, his breath tickling my ear. He made a trail of kisses down to the corner of my mouth and stopped.

"I'm sure," I whispered back, then closing the inch that was between our lips. The kiss was gentle but still took my breath away. It gave me butterflies in my stomach and I wanted him closer to me. I opened my mouth and felt his tongue slide in, sending shivers up my spine. Of course, a good moment like this, somebody always has to interrupt.

"Whoa, is it hot in here or is it just me?"

Reluctantly I pulled out of Squid's grasp and turned to glare at Magnet. "Believe me, it's definitely not you." Magnet grinned and stepped around us to get to his cot. "Come on. I'll walk you to the showers." I took Squid's hand and led him out of the tent.

Looking out over all the holes, I kept hoping I would see Stanley's figure coming back. Sure, I'd be happy to see Zero, but Stanley is way closer to me.

"He'll be alright."

"I know," I said, looking beside me at Squid. I smiled slightly and said in a teasing voice. "Oh, by the way, some boyfriend you are."

His eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"You don't wait for me when you finish digging your hole." I honestly didn't mind being the last one out there, but I was looking for a subject change and was wanting to nag on him a bit.

"Well, you dig too slow," was his excuse.

"So?" I said and gave a small laugh. "I'm your girlfriend! You're supposed to wait on me."

We came to a halt by the showers. I kept my eyes from wandering over to the stalls with all the naked guys in it. "Are you going to wait for me?" Squid asked, his mouth tilted up in one corner.

"Of course not," I said, "but that's because you didn't wait on me. So we're equal." He started to open his mouth to say something, but I reached and placed a kiss on his lips. "I'll see you in the 'wreck' room in a little while." Smiling, I turned around and headed to the 'wreck' room.

Like usual, there were a bunch of boys in there doing their own thing. I spotted Zigzag right away, with his wild hair, and made my way over to where he sat on the floor in front of the broken television.

"Hey, Fuse."

Lisp was sitting at a table watching a couple of his friends, including Skittles, play cards. When I looked at him he gave a slight smile then went back to watching the card game. I glanced at Zigzag and back at Lisp and made up my mind to talk to Lisp first.

"Lisp, can I talk to you for a second?"

He looked like he was deciding whether or not to come with me, but finally got up from his chair. He followed me to a small, vacant table and sat down across from me. "Whats up?"

"How come you've been avoiding me lately?" I asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

Giving me an innocent look he said, "What do you mean? I haven't been avoiding you. At least not on purpose."

I gave him an exasperated look. "Oh, please. Everytime I come in your sight, you leave right away. You don't even say hi to me anymore."

"I just said hi to you."

"Yeah, but you had a look on your face that said 'Oh, crapola, I wish I didn't just do that.'"

Looking down at the table Lisp gave a loud sigh. "I guess I just....Squid irritates me is all."

I continued to study him. "You've been avoiding me because Squid irritates you?"

"I mean, I don't like the guy and I kind of thought maybe we could have got together or something. I don't know."

He had mumbled the last part so I had to lean closer to hear him. "Ohhh, you thought...." Talk about awkward. "Um, well, we can still be friends, right? It's just that I have a stronger...connection...with Squid."

Lisp looked up at me, and though he still didn't look very pleased, he gave a slight smile and nodded. "Yeah, friends will work."

I smiled back. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another boy to deal with."

All I was going to say to Zigzag was sorry and to quit staring at me. That's all, and it's up to him whether he wants to accept the apology or not. It didn't really bother me one way or another if he didn't.

He kept watching the broken T.V. when I sat down beside him. "Hey, Zig," I greeted him. He ignored me so I said, "Can you at least nod your head or glance at me to tell me that your listening?" His body remained motionless, except for his chest going up and down, and his eyes remained on the static-filled screen. I let out a breath of air and leaned forward, switching the T.V. off. I saw Zigzag's reflection in the now blackened screen and saw him finally look over at me.

"You're lucky they were just showing repeats," he said.

I leaned back into my original position and looked at him. "Listen, Zig, I'm sorry I called you psychotic. I didn't mean--"

"You meant it."

"Okay, okay, I did mean it." Better to tell the truth since it seems like he can read my mind now. "I meant it, but I didn't mean it to come out. It's not like your craziness is totally bad. It makes you who you are, and you are an awesome guy and friend to have." I paused and then added, "And I definitely mean that." That could've been the nicest thing I ever said to someone. Well, maybe not the nicest, but it was up there.

Zigzag was quiet for a moment and was actually looking at the ground rather than at me. "That's the cause of the reason of why I got sent here," he said. "The other kids at my school, they called me crazy."

I nodded absently. "That's what Squid told me."

"My science teacher called me crazy, too." He turned to me, his eyes not wide like they usually were. "I knew he always thought I was. One day it finally slipped from him. That was the night I burnt the classroom."

_I knew there was a reason behind it! _"Even though it wasn't the smartest thing to do, I understand why you did it." Heck, if Mr. Durben called me a name I'd probably light his classroom up, or fill it with spray cheese. That would take a lot of cans of spray cheese for sure.

"Thanks for your apology, Fuse. I kind of took the insult too seriously," Zigzag said, interrupting my thoughts. He reached over and turned the television back on. "Do you want to watch _Scrubs _with me?"

**A/N: Sorry for the long update. Obviously the schedule is getting me nowhere lol. One important thing, I am going to change my penname by the next time i update. It's going to be: jeskuhh2jake I didnt want for yall to get confuzzled. R&R! : )**

**MissLouise: lol yea im american. i also listened to that song & when i read it i didnt recognized it but when i heard it im like oh! i remember this song! haha ill probably use it in the sequel cuz theres one part where i need a song and that one is a good one. so thank you for making me reremember that song lol : )**


	28. Fuse

I couldn't believe what I saw. Actually, I could believe it since I was at Camp Green Lake, but still. The nerve of that boy!

When I was about to enter the 'wreck' room, X-Ray finally caught up to me and grabbed my elbow, pulling me to a halt. "Let go of me," I said as calmly as I could.

"You're gonna start something and get into big trouble," X-Ray said. "Let me talk to him. Or if you want I'll go grab Squid and he can--"

Yanking out of his grasp I said, "No, thanks. I don't want there to be another Squittles moment."

X-Ray gave me a confused glance. "A what moment?"

"You heard me," I called over my shoulder. It didn't take me long to spot Skittles, sitting at a table in the corner, playing _my _guitar. "What the _hell _do you think you're doing?" I said angrily when I reached him.

He took his precious time to look up at me with a smirk on his face. "I'm playing guitar."

Oooo, I wanted to smack him! "Yeah, I can see that. I can also see that it's my guitar you're playing."

Skittles ran a hand through his now green hair. His eyes that were locked with mine slid down to the black guitar he was holding and then back to mine. "This is yours?"

I narrowed my eyes dangerously. I wasn't in the mood to play games with this guy. "Don't pretend like you don't know! I saw you come out of D-Tent with it."

"Are you sure it was me?"

"Gee, I don't know! Maybe it was the other green-haired boy!" I rolled my eyes. X-Ray layed a hand on my shoulder to try and calm me but I brushed it off.

"No need to be so sarcastic," Skittles grinned.

"Then give me back my guitar," I said through my teeth. "It means a lot to me and I don't want you messing it up."

"I'm not going to mess it--Oops." He let out a chuckle as I flinched. He had started to stand up and knocked it against the table. On purpose or on accident, I don't know, but I didn't really care. I took a step forward, but X-Ray's hand was back on my shoulder.

"Yo," he said, "give the girl her guitar back."

Skittles sized X-Ray up and said, "What're you going to do about it?"

"He's not going to do anything," I answered before X-Ray could say anything. "I am though." My temper was boiling over as I made a grab for my guitar. When Skittles pulled it away from my reach, making it bang against the wall behind him, I let my hand fly and smacked him across the face. I'm not usually the smacking type, but I was pretty sure it hurt him since my hand was stinging really bad.

He let out some curse words and, sure enough, when he looked up there was a red mark forming on his cheek. "Stupid bitch!" he shouted at me. "Take your damned guitar!"

When he threw my guitar on the ground, my fuse exploded. I launched myself at him and tackled him to the ground. He tried to push me off him, but at the same time he was trying to block my fists from hitting him. Yes, I was very angry. Yes, I knew I was going to get in huge trouble. Yes, it was my intention to beat the holy hell out of him.

I heard X-Ray demanding me to stop, and I think I might've accidentally elbowed him in the face when he tried to pull me off of Skittles. I would apologize to him later, but at the moment my attention was on Skittles. As I continued hitting him as best as I could, someone wrapped their arms around my midsection and yanked me off of the boy. His arm lashed out and I felt a sharp sting run down my arm while I was being pulled off.

"Hey, chill out!" Lisp said, trying to keep his hold on me. How annoying. I turned around with some difficulty and pushed hard against his chest. He let go and stumbled backwards. I followed after him when Skittles, who had apparently gotten up, gave me a shove from behind.

A small 'oof' escaped me as I landed awkwardly on top of Lisp. _This is a bit awkward, _I thought for a brief second before I pushed myself up. Yes, I was now straddling the boy under me, and as I skanned the surrounding boys, isn't it a shocker that Squid happened to be part of them? _Okay, this is completely awkward, _ran through my brain, and then I spotted Skittles walking away with his palm on his forehead. "Hey, I'm not done with you!" I shouted and jumped up. My intention was to run over and tackle him again, but I tripped over Lisp's legs and fell to the floor, catching a glimpse of Skittle's middle finger. I let out a growl. "You're such an idiot!" I screamed at Lisp. "Stay the hell away from me!"

Squid came over and helped me up. "Are you okay?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I guess." Looking down at my arm I saw two thin lines of blood. "What a loser. All he can do is scratch," I said and smeared the blood away with my hand, only to have fresh, red beads to appear again. It actually did hurt, but I had to be strong in front of the guys.

"Do you want to go find Mom and get some bandages?" he asked.

"No, I'll live," I said, shaking my head. "I just want to get out of here before a counselor shows up."

"I'll come with you." Squid followed me out of the 'wreck' room. I didn't bother checking to see if Lisp was hurt, or X-Ray for that matter. Once we were outside, Squid walked beside me and took my hand. "So what happened in there?"

"Skittles was being an asshole," I muttered darkly. "When I was coming back from digging I saw him come out of our tent with my...." I halted. "Guitar! Damn it all! I forgot my guitar in there!" I started to turn around to head back to the building I just came from, but Squid stopped me.

"Go on to the tent," he said. "I'll go get it." He kissed my forehead and jogged away in the opposite direction.

_Well, isn't he sweet? _I thought with the smallest of smiles. I headed to D-Tent, still wiping the blood off my arm with my dirty jumpsuit sleeve. _I wonder if this will get infected? If it does, will they have to cut my arm off? Hmm....I probably wouldn't have to dig anymore holes then. In fact, they'd probably let me out of here. _I pressed my sleeve harder against the scratches and nearly bumped into somebody while I was listening to my thoughts. "Oh, my bad," I said and looked up. _Crap. _

"Watch where you're going," Loner said and flashed me a glare.

I narrowed my eyes. "Why don't _you _watch where you're going? I'm trying to hold my arm together here, punk."

He took a step forward. "Do you really want to start something when you have no backup around?" He spread his arms out as if trying to prove a point. And he did have a point. There was no one in sight.

_Geez, where is everyone? _I thought as I took the tiniest step back. "You think I'm scared of you?"

"I don't know. You tell me since you're the one that keeps stepping back," he said as he stepped forward again, inches away from me.

Wanting to step back again, I resisted the urge and kept my feet planted. I wasn't intimidated by him, but he was too close to me. Who likes someone that's almost standing on top of you? Unless you want them to, of course. "I liked you better when you didn't talk as much."

A hard shove from Loner got my adrenaline running at full speed. I did the only reasonable thing in my mind; I shoved back. Unfortunately for us we never saw Dr. P walking around, but he saw us.

"Melina! What do you think you're doing?"

Okay, so unfortunately he saw _me. _"He pushed me first," I said angrily and pointed a finger at the delinquent next to me. Loner grabbed my wrist and pushed it down aggressively. "See!" I shouted. "He's being a meanie!"

"He's acting that way because you are invading his personal space." I opened my mouth to protest, but the counselor cut me off. "I know what I saw, Melina."

Using my eyes I tried to tell him how much I despised him at the moment. The only reason he was being a jerk to me was because I was in D-Tent. Ever since Zero hit him with a shovel Dr. P has had it out for D-Tent. He held a serious grudge. Though I probably would too if my face looked like his.

"I pushed her first."

Dr. P and myself both looked at Loner in surprise. "Shawn, don't be lying for her sake. I saw her push you first."

"No, you didn't," Loner stated flatly. "You were looking right at us when I shoved her." I studied Loner and noticed in his blank stare at Dr. P there was also a hint of amusement in it.

Dr. P cleared his throat and turned to me. "Apologize to Shawn."

"_No,_" I said and placed a hand on my hip.

"I don't want her to apologize," Loner said.

_What's up with him? _I wondered.

"Are you going to argue with me?"

"No, I'm going to walk away." And Loner did just that.

I chuckled in disbelief as Dr. P watched Loner walk away, his mouth partly open. "He sure was talkative today. Must be the weather." I smiled at my little joke.

"You just lost a couple of shower tokens."

My smile fell. "Why?! What about Loner?!" He was starting to sound like Mr. Sir and it was annoying me.

"He's not--"

"Dr. Pendanski." We looked and saw the warden walking over. "Leave Fuse alone and come with me."

"You looked stressed. Are you okay?" The warden gave me a look and I averted my eyes. As they hurried away Squid reappeared beside me with my guitar in his hand. "What did they want?"

I shrugged and took my guitar. "Just shooting the breeze." My mouth turned into a frown when I saw the once-smooth, black surface had a few light scratches on it now.

"Right," Squid said as he adjusted his hat. "Why don't you and I go back to the tent and shoot the breeze then?" When I looked up at him he shot me a smirk that I had to return with a kiss.

***

I opened my eyes and sat up. Sleep wouldn't stay with me. I kept waking up and it started to feel like I wasn't getting any sleep at all. Sighing to myself I pushed myself out of my cot and reached under it for my guitar case. As quietly as I could, I grabbed my guitar and went out of the tent.

The black sky was filled with burning stars and I wondered what time it was. I walked across camp and passed the mess hall toward the cluster of holes. After I was a good ways out there, I went to sit down but a voice stopped me.

"Hey, what're you doing?"

I jumped out of my skin and spun around. "Ugh, you nearly gave me a heart attack, Loner!" My hand went to my heart, trying to slow it. "What do you mean what am I doing? What are you doing?"

"I saw you coming out here."

"Oh, um, okay." I fidgeted in the awkward silence that followed. "Was there something you wanted?"

"I wanted to make sure you and I were on the same page," he said coming closer.

Scratching my head I asked, "The same page of what?"

"When I told Dr. Pendanski what I did it wasn't because I was helping you out. He's my uncle and I've never really liked him. Don't think I'm doing you any favors."

I raised my eyebrows. "Dr. P is your uncle?" _Never would've guessed that._

"Yeah." He stared at me for a moment before saying, "I don't like you."

_Oh, really? _I was tempted to say in a sarcastic tone. I was tired and didn't want anymore trouble so instead I just said, "Alright."

....I guess that was the wrong thing to say.

His hands shot out and rammed into me. I let out a gasp and dropped my guitar in shock. As I tumbled backwards I suddenly didn't feel the ground beneath my feet. A big breath of air escaped me and my eyes shut when I landed hard on my back in a hole. A sharp pain shot through my spine. "Jerk," I muttered through clenched teeth. Using my elbows I pushed myself up in a sitting position. I opened my eyes and blinked a couple times, then something in my peripheral vision caught my attention. When I looked my whole body froze and my eyes widened in horror.

There was Stanley and Zero, slumped against the side of the hole. They could've been sleeping, if it wasn't for all the blood on their bodies. The jumpsuits were torn and their skin was ripped open in places revealing bone and muscle. A lizard crawled up on Zero's limp shoulder and looked at me. I couldn't move, but I noticed it had eleven spots right before it leaped at my face....

My eyes shot open and I bolted straight up in bed. My breathing was heavy and I brushed the back of my hand against my forehead, wiping away the beads of sweat. _That wasn't a very pleasant dream, _I thought as my breathing slowly went back to its normal pace. _I need some fresh air. _

I could hear some of the other boys snoring. As I crept out of bed I decided to retrieve my guitar before going outside. I stopped in front of the tent, looking up at all of the stars. _I wonder if it's almost time to.... _My thoughts trailed off when I thought back to the dream I just had. _Ha, a weird coincidence. That's all it is. _But instead of going across camp, I headed out to the holes closer to our tent.

Out in the distance, if I looked closely, I could see a darker black that was the mountains. I wondered briefly where Stanley and Zero were. If they were even alive. _How depressing, _I thought.

"Hey."

I let out a startled cry and dropped to my knees, holding out my left hand as a shield while my right hand clenched tightly around the neck of my guitar. "I don't want to know about your uncle!"

There was a short silence. "Um, we don't have to talk about him if you don't want. I understand."

Looking up I saw Squid standing there with his arms crossed, eyebrow raised. "Oh, uh, sorry. I kind of freaked."

"Kind of?" He came over and sat down beside me. "I wasn't planning on talking about my uncle, just so you know."

"Ha ha," I laughed nervously and I changed my sitting position to Indian-style. "I had this weird dream and I was having a sense of déjá vu."

"....About somebody's uncle?"

I sighed dramatically and rolled my eyes. After recapping my dream to him, I layed on my back with my guitar forgotten at my side. "Nice dream, huh?"

He snorted. "If that's your idea of a nice dream, I'd hate to see what one of your nightmares are like." His eyes looked down at me. Shortly he was laying next to me, head rested in his hand while the other stroked slowly through my hair.

"Mm, that feels good," I mumbled and let my eyes flutter shut. I felt his fingers tighten slightly in my hair and the next moment the pressure of his lips were on mine. The contact sent butterflies in my stomach flying. His tongue brushed my bottom lip and I granted him entry. Our tongues brushed together in a heated battle and my arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer. He changed his position so he was laying halfway on top of my body and ran a hand down my side.

"Melina," Squid murmured against my lips.

"Hm?" I pressed my lips on his neck, trying to get my body closer.

He sighed, his breath tickling my ear and sending shivers down my spine. "I lo--"

Camp Green Lake's annoying, morning alarm went off making Squid and I jump. We both groaned then looked at each other, a smile forming on our faces. He planted a kiss on my mouth before standing up, pulling me up with him.

"We could always ignore it?" he suggested.

"That sounds great, but I'd rather not give Dr. P a reason to isolate me from you guys." I picked up my guitar and grabbed Squid's hand. "Come on." He pulled out of my grasp and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer. I wrapped my own arm around his waist and felt him give me a small kiss on the head.

When we reached our tent, we were greeted by Dr. P talking to the rest of the campers. "All of you are to go into the 'wreck' room and stay there. You are not allowed to talk!"

"How come?" a boy asked from C-Tent.

"And no questions!" Dr. P said. "Alright, boys, let's move it."

**A/N: A million apoplogies for the long update! I had half of it written out for quite awhile and don't know why I couldn't finish the rest of it. But a few important things! **

**1.) I finally have a picture of Loner so you can check it out on my profile.**

**2.) I am glad to say that this is the second to last chapter, which means the next chapter i post will be the end! I cant believe i will finally be finished with this story. Seems like it took forever! I'm not planning to put an author's note on it so remember to review it (same goes for this chapter XD) Also! Thank you to all my Reviewers! Thank you to all my Story Alerters! Thank you to all my Story Favoriters! Thank you to all my Author Favoriters! Thank you to all my Author Alerters! And to all the people who tried to read this story but found it was too horrible, for making an attempt to read it, thank you! *mutters* jerks. Idk when the last chapter will be up but it should be up soon. And then the sequel!**

**3.) The sequel is going to be called Fuse: Roadtrip. **

**!!!THANK YOU!!! **


	29. Goodbyes

The 'wreck' room was normally packed, but it never had every single boy from the camp in it. It was weird. What was even weirder was that no one was playing any games or watching television. They were all just sitting around. Not talking. Every once in awhile there would be whispering.

"I wonder what's going on?"

"Why did they make us come in here?"

"How long will we be in here?"

"I'm hungry."

Squid, X-Ray, and Armpit gave me a look while Magnet nodded in agreement. I was sitting between Squid and X-Ray on the couch with Squid's arm around my shoulders. Armpit was sitting with Magnet at a table near us, and Zigzag was sitting on the other side of X-Ray staring into space. Oh, yeah, and our newest D-Tent member was chatting it up with some other boy about Corvettes.

Even though some of the delinquents were sitting on couches and chairs, there were a lot more on the ground. We've been sitting in the 'wreck' room for quite a long time now. All of us were starting to get fidgety.

"Hey, I thought of something!" Magnet said in an excited whisper. "We can play Truth and Dare!"

"I told you," I said, "it's Truth _or _Dare! And I dare you to go sit on The Lump's lap."

"We haven't started yet," he protested holding up a hand. "I go first since I thought of it."

"Then I'm not playing." I huffed and crossed my arms.

"Don't be a stubborn brat," Squid said.

"I'm not!" I replied...stubbornly. He smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," Magnet said. "Hurry up and go."

"I already gave you the dare."

"I didn't pick Dare!"

"I'm making you pick Dare!"

"Yo, will you two lower your voices?" X-Ray said.

We both glanced at X-Ray before turning back to each other. "Do you want me to get killed?" Magnet asked in a whisper.

I shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe."

"Go do it so we can get this game rolling," Armpit said.

Magnet sighed and nervously stood up. He spotted The Lump in his usual recliner chair. Magnet made his way slowly toward him. When he reached him he stood there for a moment, looking worriedly between The Lump and us.

Noticing him standing there, looking like a goober, The Lump eyed him. "What you looking at, huh?"

Magnet rubbed the back of his neck. "Por favor, no me maten."

"Wha-?" As The Lump was about to ask what he just said in Spanish, Magnet went to jump onto his lap. It didn't work out too well. Before he could even sit all the way, The Lump had him by his collar and stood up from his seat, jerking poor Magnet with him. "I'm gonna kill you!" Boys that were sitting on the floor around that area scattered.

"Ayúdame!" Magnet shouted as he tried to run away. "Ayúdame!"

"What's going on in here?" A counselor stepped into the room and gave us all the evil eye. He spotted The Lump holding onto a frightened Magnet. "What're you two doing? Let the boy go."

The Lump gave Magnet a hard push away. "Stay away from me, freak." He continued to glower at Magnet's retreating figure and sat back down.

"Happy now?" Magnet said to me with a frown. He had to sit on the floor since a boy from a different tent took his chair.

"No," I said, trying to keep the smile away from my face. "You didn't even sit on him." He threw his hands up and started to mumble angrily in Spanish.

"Shut your mouth, fool. It's your turn."

With Armpit's reminder, a sly grin slid on Magnet's face. "Fuse, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

He let out a frustrated groan. "You can't pick Truth!"

I raised my eyebrows. "I think I just did."

"Well, I'm making you pick Dare!"

"Don't make me kick you."

"Quit arguing and ask her something," Squid said.

"Fine," Magnet sighed. "Do you and Squid have a thing going on?"

Both, Squid and I, rolled our eyes and answered. "Obviously." We looked at each other and started to laugh.

"Squid, Truth or Dare?" I asked.

"Dare, of course," he replied cockily.

I swatted his hand. "I dare you to..." I stopped to think for a of couple seconds. Looking around, I noticed there weren't any counselors in here. "I dare you to go outside and find out what's going on." It wasn't that great of a dare but I wanted to know why we were stuck in here, and I didn't want to be the one who got caught and get yelled at.

Sighing, Squid removed his arm from around my neck and stood up. He maneuvered his way through the group of boys scattered out on the floor. We all watched him as he opened the screen door and stepped outside. Not two seconds had passed before he swung the door back open shouting, "They're alive!"

All of D-Tent exchanged glances before we rose from our seats and hurriedly made our way to the door. When I spotted Stanley and Zero, relief flooded through me, as I was sure it did with the boys. We greeted them with big smiles and told them we thought they were goners. I hugged Stanley and noticed how strongly he smelled of onions. _I know what they've been living off of, _I thought briefly.

The next moments passed quickly. Basically Camp Green Lake was going to be closed for awhile as they did an investigation. I was happy for that, but I was still hung on the fact that Mr. Sir's name was Marian. And the fact that Dr. P wasn't really a doctor. And the fact that Stanley and Zero had found a treasure chest full of golden treasure. And the fact that it had STANLEY YELNATS engraved on it. And also the fact that it started to rain.

Everyone, including the boys from the other tents, ran out into the rain, dancing and shouting with joy. It felt so good as I stood there, looking up at the sky with my arms spread. A few D-Tenters ran by me, giving me quick hugs and thumps on the back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Stanley and Zero get into a car. We waved at them as they drove off.

"Alright, boys, listen up!" shouted the man who called for an investigation. "Until we figure out what to do, we're going to schedule buses to come tomorrow morning to pick everyone up. They're going to take you home and..." The rest of his sentence was drowned out as all of us cheered and pumped our fists in the air. He let out a piercing whistle that quieted us down. He still had to shout though because of the pouring rain. "Pack up all your stuff tonight and be ready to leave early tomorrow. There'll be three buses, each with a list of names of who's going on that bus." He turned to the officer next to him and gestured to the warden, Dr., well, _Mr. _P, and Mr. Sir. He motioned for them to stand up and follow him into Mr. Sir's office.

All of us stayed out in the rain, talking and laughing. It was a strange sight; you wouldn't think a huge group of delinquents would be enjoying themselves, but this was probably the happiest they've been in months.

D-Tent regrouped and we all exchanged smiles. "Guys, we're leaving this place!" I exclaimed jumping up and down like a kid at Christmas. If it had been Christmas, this would've been the best gift of them all.

"This is the best day of my life," X-Ray said glancing up at the dark gray clouds.

"You mean the second best day," Magnet chuckled.

Zigzag nodded. "Tomorrow will be the best day."

My smile got bigger when Squid wrapped an arm around me, kissing me on the cheek before moving to my mouth.

That night, we were still in high spirits. Packing was fast since we didn't have a lot with us in the first place. After that we all exchanged contact information; I had to give them Stanley's since he'd left already.

"Well, I'm gonna lay down and try to get some sleep," X-Ray announced while getting on his cot and taking his glasses off. "I'm ready for tomorrow to be here."

"Same here, dawg," Armpit said and followed X-Ray's example. Soon all the boys were getting into their cots.

When Squid was getting ready to climb into his, I put my hand on his shoulder, stopping him. "Can you come with me for a minute?" I asked. He nodded, so I grabbed my guitar and led him out of the tent.

For the first time here, we didn't see millions of stars in the darkened sky like we normally did. Clouds were blocking them, sending tiny raindrops down. With the sun down, the air was cool, making the water droplets on my skin cold. I sure wasn't going to complain, though.

I glanced inside a hole before sitting on the edge of it with the guitar in my lap. After Squid sat down we stayed silent for a while. Who knows what was going through Squid's head? I wasn't really thinking of anything, just relaxing and feeling the rain.

"So did you write my song?"

I smiled a bit. "Yes, I did."

He nodded and looked at me. "Is it any good?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Putting my fingers on the right strings, I began to play.

_"Well, I've heard those city singers singin' bout how they can love._

_Deeper than the oceans, higher than the stars above. _

_Well, I come from the country and I know I ain't seen it all,_

_But I heard that ocean's salty and the stars they sometimes fall._

_And that would not do justice to the way I feel for you,_

_So I had to sing a song about all the things I knew." _

After I finished singing to him, Squid told me he loved it. I grinned and muttered a thanks. Mentioning we should probably get to bed, I stood up and made to walk back to the tent, but Squid grabbed my elbow and turned me around to face him. We looked into each others' eyes for a couple of seconds.

"I love you," he told me. "Forever and always." Then he kissed me.

_"My love is deeper than the holler. _

_Stronger than the river. _

_Higher than the pine trees growin' tall upon the hill. _

_My love is purer than the snowflakes that fall in late December. _

_And honest as a robin on a springtime window sill. _

_And longer than the song of a whippoorwill." _

Camp Green Lake's alarm woke everyone up the next morning, making me think that it had all been a dream, but once I saw the buses parked outside I knew it wasn't. D-Tent, along with the other campers, gathered around a few adults who held clipboards in their hands. We found out that Squid, Zigzag, Magnet, and myself would be on a different bus than the rest of D-Tent. We didn't mind, but after we put our bags on the bus assigned to us, we swapped hugs and good-byes. Of course, I had to give Lisp a hug good-bye, too.

_"From the backroads to the broadway shows_

_With a million miles between,_

_There's at least a million love songs that people love to sing. _

_And every one is different. _

_And every one's the same. _

_And this is just another way of sayin' the same thing."_

Squid and I sat beside each other on the bus with Zigzag and Magnet behind us. After a couple of hours and dropping a few boys off, I started to recognize buildings and realized I would be getting off before them. I said in a half-serious, half-joking tone that they better not forget to call me. Squid said I didn't have to worry.

_"My love is deeper than the holler._

_Stronger than the river. _

_Higher than the pine trees growin' tall upon the hill. _

_My love is purer than the snowflakes that fall in late December. _

_And honest as a robin on a springtime window sill. _

_And longer than the song of a whippoorwill."_

When they called my name, I kissed Squid and waved bye to Zigzag and Magnet. I grabbed my bag and guitar case and stepped off the bus onto the curb. My eyes stared after the bus as it drove off and disappeared around the corner. Taking a deep breath I turned around, finding a very familiar neighborhood looking back at me. Knowing that I would be getting a phone call later in the day, I grinned and took my first step toward home.

_"My love is deeper than the holler. _

_Stronger than the river. _

_Higher than the pine trees growin' tall upon the hill. _

_My love is purer than the snowflakes that fall in late December. _

_And honest as a robin on a springtime window sill. _

_And longer than the song of a whippoorwill. _

_A whippoorwill."_

***FINISHED***


End file.
